Court’s order blocks cuts at media agency

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court in Washington issued a rare emergency injunction Tuesday, blocking staffing changes that the Trump administration’s new head of the Voice of America made to a U.S. organization that protects digital speech worldwide.

In a two-page order, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit warned that actions taken by Michael Pack, a conservative filmmaker and associate of former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon, could endanger activists under repressive governments who rely on the Open Technology Fund to combat internet censorship and surveillance.

Pack fired the technology group’s top officials and bipartisan board after being confirmed June 4 as chief executive of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees Voice of America and four U.S. government-funded news outlets: the Open Technology Fund, Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia and Middle East Broadcasting Networks.

Seven U.S. senators, including Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., wrote to Pack expressing “deep concern” about the staff cuts he has ordered. Republican House members have also aired misgivings, and four existing board members, including two former U.S. ambassadors, filed suit to halt the changes.

In Tuesday’s order, U.S. Circuit Judges David Tatel, Thomas Griffith and Patricia Millett ruled that it appeared Pack did not have statutory authority to appoint or control the fund’s board members or operations.

In staying Pack’s changes pending “highly expedited” appeal, the judges said existing board members who filed suit showed that “the government’s actions have jeopardized [the technology fund’s] relationships with its partner organizations, leading its partner organizations to fear for their safety.”