The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has formally asked a federal judge to deny NPR’s request for a preliminary injunction and summary judgment, calling the public radio organization’s claims “an over-caffeinated conspiracy theory at sharp odds with the record.”
In its October 27 opposition brief, CPB argued that NPR’s allegations that the agency retaliated against the network or did “the bidding of Donald Trump” are “ridiculous.” CPB said there is “no evidence that CPB held any view on the ‘content’ of NPR’s speech because it is not involved in the reviewing or approval of the content of public media entities’ broadcasts.”
The filing says NPR’s First Amendment and statutory claims “contradict the express will of Congress,” asserting that the network “has no entitlement to any appropriated funds under the Public Broadcasting Act or the Appropriations Act at issue.” CPB lawyers wrote, “NPR doesn’t even have a contract with CPB that would entitle it to interconnection funds.”
According to CPB, the case stems from longstanding concerns about NPR’s control of the Public Radio Satellite System and its resistance to reforms designed to make public radio distribution more diverse and representative. The opposition recounts a two-year series of board meetings and consultant recommendations that preceded President Trump’s May executive order to end NPR funding.
CPB said it repeatedly invited NPR to negotiate a new grant agreement that would transition the interconnection system to independent management, but NPR “expressed no interest in having such negotiations.” When NPR refused to engage, CPB created a working group of stations and public media organizations, including NPR appointees, to design a competitive bidding process for future funding.
After Deloitte independently evaluated the proposals, CPB selected Public Media Infrastructure, a coalition of PRX, American Public Media Group, New York Public Radio, the National Federation of Community Broadcasters, and the Station Resource Group. CPB said Deloitte found PMI’s proposal “superior to that of NPR in numerous respects.”
“When a competitor won the bid, of course, everything changed,” CPB wrote. “NPR suddenly decided that CPB was ‘complying’ with the May 1st EO.”
The filing rejects the idea that CPB acted under political pressure, noting that it “openly defied” the White House by paying millions of dollars to NPR and PBS after the order and by suing the Trump Administration twice in separate cases. “Far from ‘currying favor’ with the Trump Administration, CPB has filed two lawsuits since March against the Administration asserting that the Administration had acted illegally,” the brief states.
CPB argues that NPR’s requested injunction would “violate the separation of powers” by ordering the court to direct appropriated funds to NPR, which “Congress did not entrust with the management of those funds.” The filing also maintains that the Public Broadcasting Act provides “no private right of action” and that NPR’s claims rely on a statute “that does not apply to the appropriations at issue.”
“The plain text of the statute relied upon by NPR is clear – it applies only to funds appropriated to the Satellite Interconnection Fund,” CPB wrote. “The appropriations bill is clear – it did not provide funds to the Satellite Interconnection Fund.”
CPB further said NPR “has failed to demonstrate the necessary factors to justify an injunction,” arguing that the network “has not suffered any harm, much less irreparable harm.” The filing quotes NPR’s own public Q&A, conceding, “No matter what happens in the suit, the money in question will be put toward supporting the public radio system.”
CPB’s counsel urged the court to reject NPR’s motion outright. “At the end of the day, this case [is] about NPR’s desire for cash – without any strings – not vindication of First Amendment rights,” the brief concludes. “Invoking the Constitution is a transparent ploy by NPR to obscure its true goal.”
A ruling on NPR’s injunction request remains pending before Judge Randolph D. Moss in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.
