{"id":2447753,"date":"2025-06-16T09:16:57","date_gmt":"2025-06-16T13:16:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ca-judge-stops-trump-admin-from-firing-internet-speech-police\/"},"modified":"2025-06-16T09:19:02","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T13:19:02","slug":"ca-judge-stops-trump-admin-from-firing-internet-speech-police","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ca-judge-stops-trump-admin-from-firing-internet-speech-police\/","title":{"rendered":"CA Judge Stops Trump Admin From Firing Internet Speech Police"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fca-judge-stops-trump-admin-from-firing-internet-speech-police%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2447753&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>In April 2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the discontinuation of the Counter foreign Information Manipulation and Interference hub (R-FIMI), also known as the Global Engagement Center (GEC). though, due to a ruling from Senior District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco, this dismantling has been put on hold. The judge&#8217;s order prevents the Trump Administration from cutting staff at R-FIMI, which critics argue has engaged in censorship, especially targeting conservatives. The controversy centers on whether the President has the authority to reorganize federal agencies or if such decisions rest with the judiciary. R-FIMI,established under President Obama and funded at $50 million per year,aimed to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-biden-administrations-disinformation-board-is-a-tool-straight-from-soviet-russias-kgb\/\" title=\"The Biden ...\u2019s \u2018Disinformation\u2019 Board Is A Tool Straight From Soviet Russia\u2019s KGB\">combat foreign disinformation<\/a> but has been accused of infringing on free speech in the U.S. The ongoing legal battles highlight tensions between the executive branch and the judiciary over the management of federal employees and operations.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Secretary of State Marco Rubio <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/04\/16\/rubio-to-protect-free-speech-the-censorship-industrial-complex-must-be-dismantled\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">declared<\/a> in April that the Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference hub (R-FIMI) was dead. But, because of legal interference, it turns out that for now,&nbsp;R-FIMI, formerly called the Global Engagement Center (GEC), is only <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?sca_esv=b441b7926a47fbaa&amp;udm=7&amp;q=mostly+dead&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjx4_uJsPSNAxWtjYkEHT6YNGAQ8ccDKAR6BAhNEAY&amp;biw=1762&amp;bih=827&amp;dpr=1.09#fpstate=ive&amp;vld=cid:bb40e067,vid:D-Rgk9DA3VA,st:0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">mostly dead<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Through the miraculous powers of an activist judge, San Francisco&rsquo;s Senior District Judge Susan Illston ordered Friday that the Trump Administration must not dismantle R-FIMI, the creepy <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/05\/08\/fbi-confirms-its-restarting-online-censorship-efforts-ahead-of-2024-election\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">censorship<\/a> arm within the Department of State that curtails free speech. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">&#128680;CONFIRMED: Sec. of State Marco Rubio shuts down State Dept&rsquo;s R\/FIMI office, accused of censoring Americans. The unit, meant to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/state-department-agency-failing-to-fully-counter-foreign-disinformation-campaigns-says-watchdog\/\" title=\"... Agency Failing to Fully Counter Foreign Disinformation Campaigns, Says Watchdog\">counter foreign disinformation<\/a>, cost $50M\/year. Critics say it targeted conservatives; others warn it leaves U.S. open to propaganda.  <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/FreeSpeech?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#FreeSpeech<\/a>&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/DvsbsLGF5F\">pic.twitter.com\/DvsbsLGF5F<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; X International News (@XIntlNews) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/XIntlNews\/status\/1912790004503580891?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 17, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The argument continues over whether the president has the authority to reorganize the federal workplace and trim excess employees or if only unelected local judges have that authority for the entire nation.<\/p>\n<p>In her June 13 order, Illston said the State Department&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.state.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/FY-2026-State-CBJ-MASTER-6.3.2025-Updated.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">planned<\/a> employee separations from R-FIMI are prohibited by a previous injunction, and if the State Department plans any other similar actions, it better check with Judge Illston first.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;If the State Department has any question about whether planned actions fall within the scope of the Court&rsquo;s injunction, the Court ORDERS the Department to first raise those questions with the Court before taking action,&rdquo; Illston wrote. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 14210 in February, <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >announcing large-scale reductions<\/a> in force (RIFs) across the administration and directed agency heads to prepare for the RIFs in the Office of Personnel Management, Office of Management and Budget, plus the departments of Agriculture, Energy, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, &nbsp;Treasury, Transportation, Veterans Affairs, AmeriCorps, Environmental Protection Agency, General Services Administration, National Labor Relations Board, National Science Foundation, Small Business Administration, Social Security Administration, and the Department of State.<\/p>\n<p>In May, Illston issued a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/report-113-firefighters-taken-off-duty-without-pay-over-vaccine-mandate\/\" title=\"REPORT: 113 Firefighters Taken Off Duty Without Pay Over Vaccine Mandate\">preliminary injunction preventing<\/a> the administration from reorganizing and cutting staff at these government agencies. That was in response to a lawsuit brought by federal union employees connected to the American Federation of Government Employees and the AFL-CIO.<\/p>\n<p>Rubio made the case that the State Department is not subject to the injunction and planned to move forward with cutting employees and sunsetting R-FIMI, until Illston&rsquo;s order put that on pause. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Funded at $50 million a year, R-FIMI is a 2016 creation of former President Barack Obama, who convinced the public it was needed to find and stop foreign, especially Russian, disinformation. It helped grease the wheels of the Russian election interference hoax that marred Trump&rsquo; first term. The agency was used instead to pressure tech companies to meddle in the 2020 election, as The Federalist&rsquo;s Shawn Fleetwood previously <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/05\/08\/fbi-confirms-its-restarting-online-censorship-efforts-ahead-of-2024-election\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Federalist as well as its Editor-In-Chief Mollie Hemingway and CEO Sean Davis were among those censored by the agency.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Beth Brelje is an elections correspondent for The Federalist. She is an award-winning investigative journalist with decades of media experience.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rubio claimed R-FIMI was dead, but legal issues keep it alive<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":2447754,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Marco.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[51803,57229,32546,32640],"class_list":["post-2447753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-ca-judge","tag-internet-speech","tag-legal-decision","tag-trump-administration"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Marco.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2447753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2447753"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2447753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2447757,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2447753\/revisions\/2447757"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2447754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2447753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2447753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2447753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}