A federal judge ruled Saturday that all of Kari Lake’s official actions in her brief appointment as CEO of US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) “shall have no force or effect.”
The motion for summary judgment ruling was a victory namely for the employees of Voice of America, a government-funded media broadcaster that sued after Lake’s hiring and subsequent funding cuts and mass layoffs.
The sweeping rebuke of Lake’s tenure at the helm of USAGM, which eradicated her work from July 31 through November 19, 2025, included invalidating the layoffs of hundreds of USAGM employees.
US District Judge Royce Lamberth for the District of Columbia ruled Lake’s appointment violated the Constitution’s Appointments Clause and the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, which governs who can temporarily perform the duties of certain federal positions and officer appointments when they become vacant and how long they can serve without Senate confirmation.
Lake was “plainly ineligible to serve…because she was not serving in an office for which appointment is subject to advice and consent prior to her designation as acting CEO,” Lamberth wrote in his opinion.
President and CEO of the legal advocacy group Democracy Forward, Skye Perryman, which acted as co-counsel for the plaintiffs, celebrated the ruling on Saturday.
“A judge has confirmed what we have long known: Kari Lake took over not to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media, but to dismantle it,” Perryman wrote on X. “This is a powerful affirmation of the rule of law, as threats to democracy loom not only around the world but here at home.”
Lake argued she was serving as deputy CEO at the time Victor Moraeles was removed as acting CEO. But the court found that adopting Lake’s position would require it to find that a president can promote a first assistant to serve as the acting officer at any time during a vacancy in a Senate-confirmed office without such Senate confirmation.
“Agreeing with other judicial decisions that have addressed this question, the Court concludes that Lake’s argument is inconsistent with the text and structure of the Vacancies Act,” Lamberth wrote.
Kari Lake, a former journalist, longtime Donald J. Trump supporter, and two-time unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate for the state of Arizona, was appointed special advisor of USAGM in February 2025. She went unconfirmed as Trump had dismissed six of seven members of the oversight body that governs appointments for the role. Her appointment at USAGM was long seen as part of an effort to dismantle the organization, which the Trump administration called in a statement taxpayer-funded “radical propaganda.”
The order required Lake, Victor Morales as acting CEO of USAGM, and USAGM to file a status report by March 11, noting those who have served as acting CEO since November 19, 2025, the current succession plan for the CEO of USAGM, and copies of all orders delegating the CEO’s authorities entered since January 20, 2025.
Lamberth also ordered that any future order or documents designating a new acting CEO or new delegated authorities of the CEO be filed with the court within 48 hours of issuance.
