6 Apr 2025

Judge Allows GSA to Take USIP Property Days After It Actually Happened

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Federal District Court Judge Beryl Howell essentially allowed the General Services Administration to take the $500 million headquarters building of the U.S. Institute of Peace on the ground that it had already been done before the lawsuit against it reached her courtroom.

The building and everything in it was transferred at no cost to GSA and with no remuneration to the USIP non-profit on 29 March 2025. The hearing in Howell’s courtroom was 31 March 2025 and Howell issued her ruling the next day.

Howell wrote, “The deal is no longer merely ‘proposed’ but done, rendering plaintiffs’ requested relief moot as to that property.”

USIP’s outside counsel George Foote said, “That’s like letting a burglar break into your house, steal your TV, and have the court say well, there’s no TV to adjudicate, so I can’t do anything about it.”

USIP could also lose its $20 million endowment, although that has not yet been transferred.

USIP is unlike any of the government agencies similarly ransacked by Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency,” a subset of a White House IT team.

USIP was created by Congress and receives funding from Congress, but functions as an independent non-profit agency. It is not part of the executive branch of government. DOJ lawyers assert it is a “wholly owned government corporation,” so GSA can take its property.

USIP lawyers point to the 1984 United States Institute of Peace Act which created the agency as “an independent, nonprofit, national institute.” They also point out the headquarters building was  “constructed with substantial private funding and private donations from its Endowment.”

Howell expects to issue a final ruling in the case by the end of April 2025. This could potentially reinstate the board of directors as it was before DOGE and Donald Trump threw out most of its members and the CEO. It could also potentially unwind any asset transfers from USIP, but this could become complicated if GSA sells the building or otherwise introduces entanglements to its title.

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