NPR Files Lawsuit Against Trump

WASHINGTON, May 27, 2025– National Public Radio, along with three local stations, has sued President Donald Trump, calling illegal his efforts to defund public media by Executive Order.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court here, included Colorado Public Radio, Aspen Public Radio, and KUTE, Inc, dubbed Trump’s plan to defund “violates the expressed will of Congress and the First Amendment’s bedrock guarantees of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of association, and also threatens the existence of a public radio system that millions of Americans across the country rely on for vital news and information.” 

Trump’s Executive Order, announced in early May, called for ending taxpayer-subsidized NPR and PBS, accusing both of “biased" journalism. The lawsuit said Trump’s order was “unlawful in multiple ways.” The White House created a Fact Sheet that ordered “the FCC and relevant agencies to investigate whether NPR and PBS have engaged in unlawful discrimination.”

The Corporation of Public Broadcasting, which has sued Trump over his effort to fire three CPB board members in April, was told to cease “indirect funding to NPR and PBS” by Trump.  

CBS reports Harrison Fields, a White House spokesperson, claimed in a statement that CPB "is creating media to support a particular political party on the taxpayers' dime.” Fields also said, “The president is exercising his lawful authority to limit funding to NPR and PBS."

NPR accused the White House of openly attacking its free speech rights.

“The Order is textbook retaliation and viewpoint-based discrimination in violation of the First Amendment, and it interferes with NPR’s and the Local Member Stations’ freedom of expressive association and editorial discretion,” the lawsuit said. 

According to NPR, it serves over 43 million Americans with its media weekly, including syndicated local member stations. The lawsuit said that NPR “reaches approximately 99 percent of the U.S. population over the airwaves and, in doing so, serves the same fundamental purpose—to foster an engaged and informed citizenry.”