Judge Rules Federal Actions Against USIP Unlawful and Unwinds Them

Federal District Court Judge Beryl Howell ruled that actions by Donald Trump and by Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” to dismantle the U.S. Institute of Peace were unlawful and declared them all “null and void.”

DOGE is a subset of a White House IT team, not a government department.

USIP was created by Congress about 40 years ago as a non-partisan independent non-profit with a mission of preventing violent conflicts and brokering peace deals abroad.

Demolition of USIP began when Trump signed an executive order in February to fire nine of the twelve members of USIP’s board and its president George Moose. This left only Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Defense University President Peter Garvin on the board. They assigned Kenneth Jackson from DOGE as acting USIP president.

Employees attempted to fend off efforts by DOGE to enter its headquarters building, which USIP owned. DOGE pressured a member of the private security firm USIP contracted, saying all the firm’s other contracts would be terminated unless he helped them breach the building. With the help of his key, armed federal agents and D.C. Metropolitan police, DOGE got into the building and turfed out practically all of USIP’s workforce.

Through the GSA which DOGE had already penetrated, DOGE then took the assets of USIP, including its building which had a market value of about $500 million, and gave them to other entities.

Howell’s ruling said USIP “is unique in its structure and function — neither a traditional executive branch agency nor an entirely private nonprofit corporation.” When asked to issue a temporary restraining order early in the dismantling of USIP, she would not do so because USIP has features of both a government agency and a private non-profit, so she was not sure whether the executive branch had authority over it. She has now concluded USIP is part of the federal government but not part of the executive branch. “USIP supports both the Executive and Legislative branches as an independent think tank that carries out its own international peace research, education and training, and information services.”

Howell’s ruling orders all of Trump’s and DOGE’s actions against USIP to be unwound. She banned the federal government from “further trespass against the real and personal property belonging to the Institute and its employees, contractors, agents and other representatives.”

Her ruling is likely to be appealed.

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