DC Circuit Weighs US Challenge to Restoring Media Funds, Workers

The Trump administration Monday argued a federal court lacked the authority to order the US Agency for Global Media to reinstate hundreds of employees and contractors who were placed on leave in March.

Judge Robert L. Wilkins, of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, pressed the government on that argument. The plaintiffs—which include USAGM employees, labor unions, and networks funded by the agency—allege the more than 1,000 full-time staff placed on administrative leave “can’t fulfill the statutory mandate,” Wilkins said. “And the way that you remedy that is by telling people to go back to work. So ...