1. United States
2. N.J.
3. Letter

Citing the First Amendment, a federal judge on Tuesday agreed to permanently block (https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.280953/gov.uscourts.dcd.280953.81.0_4.pdf) the Trump administration from implementing a presidential directive to end federal funding for National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service, two media entities that the White House has said are counterproductive to American priorities. The operational impact of U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss’ decision was not immediately clear — both because it will likely be appealed and because too much damage to the public-broadcasting system has already been done, both by the president and Congress. Moss ruled that President Donald Trump’s executive order to cease funding for NPR and PBS (https://apnews.com/article/npr-pbs-public-broadcasting-trump-cuts-73de8fadf32655aa74752690d22a3758) is unlawful and unenforceable. The judge said the First Amendment right to free speech “does not tolerate viewpoint discrimination and retaliation of this type.”