A federal judge on Monday ruled that the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) takeover of the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) was unlawful, deeming it “null and void.”
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell found that President Trump and his subordinates used “brute force” to take over USIP’s headquarters and dissemble the independent institute, despite warnings that it did not fall within the executive branch.
The judge invalidated the removal of USIP board members and its president, meaning they retain their positions and the individuals installed by DOGE must be removed, and nullified the transfer of USIP’s headquarters to the General Services Administration (GSA), returning control to the USIP. Any USIP financial assets transferred to the GSA were also deemed void.
She also barred DOGE and other Trump administration officials named in the suit from further “trespass” on USIP’s property or within its systems.
“The President’s efforts here to take over an organization outside of those bounds, contrary to statute established by Congress and by acts of force and threat using local and federal law enforcement officers, represented a gross usurpation of power and a way of conducting government affairs that unnecessarily traumatized the committed leadership and employees of USIP, who deserved better,” the judge wrote in a 102-page opinion.
The independent institute and several removed board members sued DOGE and the other Trump officials in March, claiming they sought to unlawfully dismantle the institute and block it from completing the peace promotion work tasked to it by Congress.
Institute lawyer Andrew Goldfarb said at the time that DOGE moved at “lightning speed” and sought to reduce the organization, which was established to help resolve and prevent violent conflicts, “essentially to rubble.”
In March, the Trump administration fired much of USIP’s board and installed Kenneth Jackson, a State Department official, as its new president. Then, DOGE took over its headquarters.
In court papers, the institute and fired board members said DOGE first sought to enter the building with two FBI agents, but when they weren’t let in, agents showed up at the private residence of the institute’s chief of security to attempt to gain access. The institute’s outside counsel was also threatened with criminal investigation over the refusal.
Days later, three sets of law enforcement — D.C. Metropolitan Police, Department of State police and the FBI — showed up to help DOGE get into the building, they said. An official from a private security firm once contracted by USIP provided a key to access the building despite that contract having been revoked, aligning with DOGE under the apparent threat of losing its other government security contracts.
Howell called Congress’s restrictions on the president’s removal power of USIP board members “squarely constitutional,” making the removals and replacements completed by DOGE at the direction of Trump’s executive order undertaken by “illegitimately-installed leaders who lacked legal authority to take these actions.”
The judge noted that “no court before” has addressed exactly where USIP falls within the constitutional structure. The answer to that question could have implications for whether Trump’s removal power extends to the independent institute. She determined the institute must be considered part of the federal government but does not exercise “governmental, let alone executive” power.
USIP said in a statement that its board, management and staff look forward to restarting its programs to promote and facilitate peaceful conflict resolution around the world.
“Today’s ruling allows USIP to continue that work,” the statement read.
The institute was one of several small agencies targeted by the Trump administration. The Inter-American Foundation and U.S. African Development Foundation, which were also mentioned in a Feb. 19 executive order to downsize the bureaucracy, have also sued.
This story was updated at 4:50 p.m.
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