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.”
The organization’s directors are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate for six-year terms. The current members of the board were all nominated by President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
A representative for the White House had no immediate comment.
The lawsuit is the latest sign of tension between Republican politicians and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which spends more than $500 million annually on organizations like PBS, NPR and radio and TV stations across the United States.
Republicans argue that the government should not fund news programming that they believe has a liberal bias. Katherine Maher, the chief executive of NPR, and Paula Kerger, the chief executive of PBS, both defended their organizations during a fiery congressional hearing in March.
Republicans have threatened to defund the organization for decades, but lately that pressure has intensified. Legislation has been introduced in Congress to eliminate taxpayer funding of public media, and the White House is planning to ask lawmakers to claw back more than $1 billion earmarked for public broadcasting in the United States.
According to the lawsuit, the White House’s emails to directors on Monday went to Laura G. Ross, Diane Kaplan and Thomas E. Rothman. The email told them that they were being removed “on behalf of President Donald J. Trump.”
“I am writing to inform you that your position on the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is terminated effective immediately,” read the email, which according to the lawsuit was sent by Trent Morse, the deputy director of presidential personnel for the executive office of the president. “Thank you for your service.”
Mr. Trump’s efforts to shake up the media organization’s board reflect his aggressive approach to remake Washington institutions that Republicans have accused of liberal bias. He has made similar attempts at Voice of America and the U.S. Institute of Peace, and both have been met with legal resistance.
