A federal judge has given the Trump administration just one week to reinstate over a thousand U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) employees who were laid off last year by the organization’s CEO, Kari Lake.

However, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth declined to require the government to reinstate contractors working for the agency. He ruled that those individuals have to go to the Court of Federal Claims for relief.

Lamberth’s March 17 order was a follow-up to a previous ruling that set aside all the actions Lake took since she began leading the agency last year. On March 7, the judge ruled that Lake’s appointment was invalid, and that she acted illegally when she moved to reduce the agency’s functions to their “statutory minimum.”

Since Lake was not already working at USAGM and was never confirmed by the Senate, she was ineligible to step in as acting CEO, he said.

Lamberth said the drastic reductions meant the agency was unable to carry out its purpose.

“To start, the defendants do not substantively dispute the factual claim that ‘[Voice of America] ceased all broadcasting activities,’” he wrote.

“Moreover, there is no dispute that the placement of most staff on administrative leave … leaves USAGM incapable of operating in regions where it is statutorily required to do so.”

In cutting down the size of USAGM, attorneys for Lake told the court she was acting on an executive order from President Donald Trump directing that agency and six others to cut staff and reduce their work to the bare minimum required by law, as enacted by Congress.

But Lamberth said that an agency can’t use executive orders to avoid explaining its decisions, otherwise any president could use executive orders to flout the law.

He also rejected the government’s argument that Lake’s actions legally fell under her agency’s discretionary powers, and were therefore unreviewable by judges.

Shortly after winning the 2024 election, Trump announced Lake would head Voice of America, an international broadcasting company intended to spread a pro-America message. The company got its start in 1942, when it began broadcasting to counter Nazi propaganda.

However, Lamberth noted, Trump removed six out of seven members of the International Broadcasting Advisory Board when he took office. Lake needed approval from that board to direct Voice of America, Lamberth said.

In January 2025, USAGM CEO Amanda Bennett resigned, and in February, Lake joined as a senior adviser to acting CEO Victor Morales. USAGM oversees Voice of America and similar companies such as Radio Free Europe. In March, Morales issued an order delegating many of his functions to Lake; in July, she was named deputy CEO, then acting CEO.

Lamberth, in his ruling earlier this month, said Morales couldn’t delegate so much authority to Lake—nor could she be acting CEO—because that violated procedure under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act.

The government told Lamberth in November that Lake had stepped down, and returned to the role of deputy CEO.

State Department official Michael Rigas is currently the acting CEO, while the Senate confirmation of Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers to the top spot is pending.

The Epoch Times reached out to the Justice Department and Voice of America for comment.