Federal judge blocks Trump end of funding for NPR and PBS

Alternet -   President Donald Trump lost a major legal battle on Tuesday when a federal judge agreed to permanently block his efforts to end federal funding for National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).

"It is difficult to conceive of clearer evidence that a government action is targeted at viewpoints that the President does not like and seeks to squelch," wrote U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss, who was nominated to the bench by President Barack Obama. Citing Trump’s past comments about how he would “love to” defund NPR and PBS because they criticize him and his policies, Moss argued that Trump clearly violated the First Amendment’s protections for citizens against government punishment for their speech.

"The Federal Defendants fail to cite a single case in which a court has ever upheld a statute or executive action that bars a particular person or entity from participating in any federally funded activity based on that person or entity's past speech," Moss explained, adding that Trump’s “message is clear: NPR and PBS need not apply for any federal benefit because the President disapproves of their 'left wing' coverage of the news.”