PBS sues Trump administration, says executive order cutting federal funding violates First Amendment

The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is suing the Trump medication implicit its efforts to chopped the network's national funding, calling the determination "unconstitutional." 

"[In] an Executive Order issued connected May 1, 2025, the President declared that authorities backing of backstage sources of non-commercial media is ‘corrosive,’ and singled retired PBS (alongside National Public Radio) arsenic failing to supply 'fair, accurate, unbiased, and nonpartisan news,'" the tribunal filing obtained by Fox News Digital reads. 

"PBS disputes those charged assertions successful the strongest imaginable terms. But careless of immoderate argumentation disagreements implicit the relation of nationalist television, our Constitution and laws forbid the President from serving arsenic the arbiter of the contented of PBS’s programming, including by attempting to defund PBS," it continued.

The lawsuit, which names Northern Minnesota Public Television arsenic a co-plaintiff, lists respective defendants, including President Donald Trump, Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessett, Education Secretary Linda McMahon and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. 

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PBS, led by Paula Kerger, is suing the Trump medication implicit an enforcement bid targeting its national funding, alleging it violates the outlet's First Amendment rights. (Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)

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"Indeed, since Congress laid the foundations for the maturation of nationalist tv implicit 50 years ago, it has repeatedly protected the travel of national funds from governmental interference by filtering them done a non-federal, non-profit, and non-partisan entity—the Corporation for Public Broadcasting ('CPB')—and by providing for semipermanent appropriations," it said. "Lest determination beryllium immoderate uncertainty that the Executive Branch should person nary powerfulness to power CPB’s decision-making, Congress enacted a circumstantial ‘[p]rohibition’: nary ‘department, agency, officer, oregon worker of the United States’ whitethorn 'exercise immoderate direction, supervision, oregon power implicit nationalist telecommunications, oregon implicit [CPB] oregon immoderate of its grantees'—including with respect to 'the contented oregon organisation of nationalist telecommunications programs and services.'"

"The EO violates not lone those straightforward statutory restrictions but besides the First Amendment. The EO makes nary effort to fell the information that it is cutting disconnected the travel of funds to PBS due to the fact that of the contented of PBS programming and retired of a tendency to change the contented of speech. That is blatant viewpoint favoritism and an infringement of PBS and PBS Member Stations’ backstage editorial discretion," the filing continues. 

"The EO besides seeks to enforce an unconstitutional information connected PBS Member Stations’ receipt of national funds by prohibiting them from utilizing national funds to entree PBS programming and services. And the EO smacks of retaliation for, among different things, perceived governmental slights successful quality coverage. That each transgresses the First Amendment’s extortion of some code and state of the press."

President Donald Trump signed an enforcement bid earlier this period targeting national backing to PBS and NPR implicit allegations of biased quality coverage.  (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

In a connection to Fox News Digital, a PBS spokesperson said, "After cautious deliberation, PBS reached the decision that it was indispensable to instrumentality ineligible enactment to safeguard nationalist television’s editorial independence, and to support the autonomy of PBS subordinate stations." 

"The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is creating media to enactment a peculiar governmental enactment connected the taxpayers’ dime," a White House spokesperson told Fox News Digital. "Therefore, the President is exercising his lawful authorization to bounds backing to NPR and PBS. The President was elected with a mandate to guarantee businesslike usage of payer dollars, and helium volition proceed to usage his lawful authorization to execute that objective."

PBS CHIEF WARNS CUTTING FEDERAL MONEY WILL 'DEVASTATE' LOCAL STATIONS AS WHITE HOUSE SEEKS TO PULL FUNDING

Earlier this week, National Public Radio (NPR) and a trio of Colorado nationalist vigor stations likewise filed a suit against Trump's enforcement order.

NPR CEO Katherine Maher antecedently announced her organization's suit against the Trump administration.  (Left: (Photo by Horacio Villalobos#Corbis/Getty Images), Right: (Photo recognition should work SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images))

"The Executive Order is simply a wide usurpation of the Constitution and the First Amendment's protections for state of code and association, and state of the press. It is an affront to the rights of NPR and NPR's 246 Member stations, which are locally owned, nonprofit, noncommercial media organizations serving each 50 states and territories. Today, we situation its constitutionality successful the nation's autarkic courts," NPR CEO Katherine Maher said successful a lengthy statement. 

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Fox News' Brian Flood contributed to this report.