A federal judge has agreed to permanently block the Trump administration from implementing a presidential directive to end federal funding for National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service. The two are media entities that the White House has said are counterproductive to American priorities. U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss cited the First Amendment in his decision. The impact 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.

The House has approved President Donald Trump's request to claw back about $9 billion for public broadcasting and foreign aid. Democrats argued that the Republican administration's animus toward foreign aid programs would hurt America's standing in the world and create a vacuum for China to fill. The White House argued that the cuts best served the taxpayer and would incentivize other nations to do more to address humanitarian crises. The cancellation of $1.1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcast represents the full amount it is due to receive during the next two budget years. Some lawmakers voiced concern about what the cuts could mean for local public stations in their state.