“It is not always obvious when the government has acted with a retaliatory purpose in violation of the First Amendment, ‘But this wolf comes as a wolf.’” Those words from NPR and three member stations in a sweeping federal lawsuit against President Donald Trump.

That line, referencing Justice Antonin Scalia’s famous dissent in Morrison v. Olson , sets the tone for the lawsuit, which accuses the Trump administration of a goal to “Punish NPR for the content of news and other programming the President dislikes and chill the free exercise of First Amendment rights by NPR and individual public radio stations across the country.”

Filed on May 27 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the lawsuit targets Executive Order 14290, titled Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media . The order instructs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and all federal agencies to “ cease funding ” NPR and PBS based on the administration’s belief that the networks promote “partisan news coverage.”

The plaintiffs, NPR, Aspen Public Radio, Colorado Public Radio, and KSUT Public Radio, describe the order as unconstitutional, retaliatory, and a clear violation of the First Amendment and the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. In their filing, the stations accuse the Trump administration of attempting to defund and dismantle a public radio system that reaches 99% of Americans.

According to the complaint, the executive order disregards five decades of bipartisan congressional support for public broadcasting and violates statutory provisions that explicitly shield entities like NPR from federal interference. It also challenges Trump’s attempt to block not just direct funding but indirect funding by forbidding local public stations from using federal grants to license NPR or PBS programming.

The lawsuit comes just weeks after the administration attempted to remove three board members from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, an act CPB leadership says undermines the agency’s independence. The administration has also reportedly pressured CPB to cancel a nearly $36 million grant that supports the Public Radio Satellite System, a national emergency broadcast infrastructure operated by NPR.

The complaint outlines a direct timeline of hostile actions by Trump and his administration in the months leading up to the order. These include repeated social media posts urging Republicans to “defund” NPR and PBS, a White House press release declaring “THE NPR, PBS GRIFT HAS RIPPED US OFF FOR TOO LONG,” and a “Fact Sheet” accusing NPR of spreading “left-wing propaganda.”

Public radio leaders say the order not only targets NPR but also punishes hundreds of local stations across the country that rely on NPR programming and infrastructure. Aspen Public Radio, for example, broadcasts 92 hours per week of NPR programming. KSUT, which serves tribal and rural communities in the Four Corners region, is the only source of free public radio in a 27,000-square-mile coverage area.

The lawsuit also raises due process concerns, arguing the administration moved to revoke funding without warning or a fair opportunity to respond.

The plaintiffs seek to have the executive order declared unconstitutional, to block federal agencies from enforcing it, and to prohibit further efforts to strip NPR or PBS of funding based on political content.