A unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled on November 10 that Kari Lake illegally fired Voice of America director Michael Abramowitz and upheld a permanent injunction blocking his removal from the federally funded broadcaster.
Government lawyers had conceded that Abramowitz’s August 2025 dismissal violated federal statute. They argued that Congress lacked constitutional authority to restrict the president’s removal power over executive branch officials.
Federal law requires approval from a majority of the International Broadcasting Advisory Board before the Voice of America director can be removed. After taking office in January 2025, President Donald Trump fired six of the board’s seven members, leaving the board unable to act. In July 2025, officials at the U.S. Agency for Global Media ordered Abramowitz to accept a transfer to Greenville, North Carolina, as chief management officer. The notice warned that refusing the transfer would cost him his post. When he declined, officials sent an August 1 termination letter. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth blocked the dismissal in August 2025, finding that agency officials violated federal law. Lake, senior adviser to the agency’s acting chief executive, appealed alongside the administration.
Writing for the three-judge panel, Judge Cornelia Pillard ruled that Congress acted within its constitutional bounds. The court determined that giving an independent board final control over network leadership did not strip the president of oversight. Judges noted that the president can still dismiss members of the advisory board itself. The appeals court also allowed Abramowitz to sue directly in federal court rather than using the slower federal employee appeals system. Judges warned that lengthy administrative steps could let officials reshape newsroom leadership before a dispute ends. Following a March 2025 executive order, agency officials placed Abramowitz and roughly 1,300 other employees on indefinite administrative leave.
