The judge who presided over Thursday’s hearing regarding a National Public Radio (NPR) lawsuit against the Trump administration is skeptical of President Trump's executive order ending funding for public media – and could strike it down without a trial, NPR reported Friday.
Since the start of his second term in the White House, a host of activist judges have intervened to block Pres. Trump’s Constitutional authorities to implement his America First agenda.
In its article, NPR reported that Judge Randolph D. Moss is a “skeptical judge” who criticized the executive order’s premise during Thursday's summary judgement hearing:
“A skeptical judge
“The presiding U.S. district court judge, Randolph D. Moss, seemed skeptical. ‘You'd be on much firmer ground if the president had simply said, 'We just want to get out of the news business.’”
After hearing arguments from both sides on Thursday, Judge Moss can now either rule in favor of the Trump administration, grant a judgement in favor of NPR, or order that a trial be held to decide the lawsuit.
In May, Trump issued the executive order titled “Ending Taxpayer Subsidy of Biased Media.” In it, he called for an end to all taxpayer funding of news media, prompting NPR’s lawsuit.
NPR argues that the First Amendment gives it the right to be biased, while Trump attorneys contend that the president also wants to defund all taxpayer-funded media, regardless of content.
As further evidence that Judge Moss sides with NPR, the article notes that he proposed a deal Thursday to Justice Department lawyers that could permanently ensure NPR receives taxpayer funding.
In a previous case involving the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), Judge Moss criticized termination of a contract providing $36 million to NPR (“Judge Moss had explicitly told the CPB's lawyers that he did not find their defenses for the reversal credible.”). Under the settlement reached, NPR was awarded the full amount of the contract. On Thursday, Judge Moss suggested that the settlement be expanded to permanently restrict the federal government:
“Government deflects judge's suggestion
“The judge also appeared to offer the government a way out for a major part of the case, dangling the prospect that it might enable him to avoid ruling that Trump's executive order was illegal.
“Moss suggested that the U.S. government could formally agree that the CPB settlement with NPR was binding on the federal government too — that it would never seek to prevent CPB from sending money to the radio network if federal subsidies were to be somehow restored.”
The Justice Department’s lawyers rejected Judge Moss's proposal, so both sides now await impending Judge Moss's ruling.
