In a major win for press freedom advocates and Voice of America journalists, a federal judge just ruled that Kari Lake’s control of the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) was illegal. U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth declared Saturday that all the mass layoffs and other actions Lake took during her time running the agency “are void”. Translation: a lot of people got their jobs back, and the Trump administration’s attempt to dismantle America’s global news operation just hit another roadblock.

Lake, the former Arizona gubernatorial and Senate candidate turned Trump loyalist, didn’t take the loss well. She immediately called the judge an “activist” and announced the agency would appeal. But the journalists who sued to keep their jobs were thrilled. Plaintiffs Patsy Widakuswara, Kate Neeper, and Jessica Jerreat said they felt “vindicated and deeply grateful,” adding that the ruling brings “renewed hope and momentum to the next phase of our fight: restoring VOA’s global operations and ensuring we continue to produce journalism, not propaganda”.

Voice of America is a government-funded news organization that broadcasts journalism and promotes democratic values across the globe, directly countering foreign propaganda efforts. Its parent agency, USAGM, also funds other broadcasters like Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia. Pretty important stuff for fighting disinformation worldwide.

Last March, Trump announced he wanted to eliminate USAGM entirely. Lake, who he appointed to lead Voice of America, immediately put the entire workforce on administrative leave and yanked funding from every other U.S.-backed broadcaster. The network essentially went dark. But courts kept siding with the journalists challenging these moves, and now this ruling confirms what many suspected: Lake’s appointment to the top position wasn’t even legal.

Judge Lamberth found that Lake’s installation as acting CEO violated both the Constitution’s appointments clause and the Federal Vacancies Reform Act. He called it “an unlawful effort to transform Lake into the CEO of U.S. Agency for Global Media in all but name”. Coming from a judge appointed by Ronald Reagan, that’s a pretty serious rebuke.

Lake’s response? She claimed the American people gave Trump a mandate to “cut bloated bureaucracy” and that judges are standing in the way. But here’s the thing: Congress already voted to give USAGM half a billion dollars more than Lake even requested. That’s not exactly a vote of confidence in her dismantling plan.

It’s unclear exactly what Saturday’s ruling means for the hundreds of sidelined VOA journalists, but bit by bit, Trump’s plans to eliminate the agency are getting undone. The judge essentially hit pause on the chaos Lake created, and restored some semblance of order to one of America’s most important democratic institutions. For journalists and press freedom advocates, that’s a victory worth celebrating.