The Corporation for Public Broadcasting sued the Trump administration on Tuesday, accusing it of illegally trying to fire three members of the company’s board.
In the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Washington, the media organization said the White House emailed three of the company’s five directors on Monday, telling them that their positions had been terminated. The administration did not offer any justification for the dismissals.
The lawsuit argued that President Trump did not have the authority to fire directors from the organization, a taxpayer-backed, private company created by an act of Congress created more than a half-century ago that funds public media organizations across the United States. The suit asked the federal court to block the firings and issue a temporary restraining order prohibiting the White House from interfering with the company’s governance or operations.
“The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is not a government entity, and its board members are not government officers,” the company said in a statement. “Because C.P.B. is not a federal agency subject to the president’s authority, but rather a private corporation, we have filed a lawsuit to block these firings.”
The court issued a ruling on Tuesday afternoon blocking the board directors’ firings pending a hearing scheduled for May 14.
In a statement, the media organization said the decision was “a first step to protect public media and affirm the rule of law.”