Trump violated First Amendment by defunding PBS, NPR, judge rules

The President claimed last year that “NPR and PBS have fueled partisanship and left-wing propaganda with taxpayer dollars.”

Donald J. Trump; Big Bird

President Donald Trump, Big Bird from ‘Sesame Street’.Credit: 

The White House via X Account/Anadolu via Getty; Douglas Gorenstein/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty

Big Bird’s bill may be covered after all. A judge ruled on Tuesday that President Donald Trump cannot defund PBS and NPR.

U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss of the District Court for D.C. declared in a ruling obtained by Entertainment Weekly that Trump’s executive order to defund NPR and PBS violates the broacasters’ free speech rights.

“The First Amendment draws a line, which the government may not cross, at efforts to use government power — including the power of the purse — ‘to punish or suppress disfavored expression” by others,” Judge Moss wrote.

“The message is clear: NPR and PBS need not apply for any federal benefit because the President disapproves of their ‘left wing’ coverage of the news,” the court’s statement read.

Sesame Street plays a Tiny Desk concert on May 10, 2019 (NPR).

Elmo from ‘Sesame Street’ during a 2019 taping of NPR’s Tiny Desk concert series.NPR

Moss wrote that the order “singles out two speakers and, on the basis of their speech, bars them from all federally funded programs.”

Judge Moss was nominated to the bench by President Barack Obama.

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told Entertainment Weekly that the decision is “a ridiculous ruling by an activist judge attempting to undermine the law… NPR and PBS have no right to receive taxpayer funds, and Congress already voted to defund them. The Trump Administration looks forward to ultimate victory on the issue.”

In May 2025, Trump issued an executive order to defund the broadcasters, claiming “NPR and PBS have fueled partisanship and left-wing propaganda with taxpayer dollars.” Trump also said, “No media outlet has a Constitutional right to taxpayer subsidized operations, and it’s highly inappropriate for taxpayers to be forced to subsidize biased, partisan content.”

US President Donald Trump speaks in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026.

Trump speaking at the White House in February.Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty

The cuts proposed by Trump were approved in July 2025, taking back more than $1 billion that was allocated to public broadcasting for the next two years.

“ATROCIOUS NPR AND PUBLIC BROADCASTING, WHERE BILLIONS OF DOLLARS A YEAR WERE WASTED. REPUBLICANS HAVE TRIED DOING THIS FOR 40 YEARS, AND FAILED….BUT NO MORE. THIS IS BIG!!!” Trump posted on Truth Social after Congress cut funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.