The U.S. Agency for Global Media cannot “force RFE/RL to shut down,” the judge wrote, “even if the President has told them to do so.”

Three appellate court judges sided with federal Judge John J. McConnell Jr. in Rhode Island. The sweeping funding freeze will be blocked until the Trump administration’s full appeal is heard.

The First Circuit panel found the Trump administration is unlikely to prevail in its bid to halt funding for so-called