A federal judge in Washington issued an order Monday that wipes out the Trump administration’s takeover of the U.S. Institute of Peace, ruling that the moves violated federal law and the Constitution.
Judge Beryl A. Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in an opinion sided with a group of ousted board members of the entity created by Congress, who filed a lawsuit after the Trump administration’s dramatic takeover in March that involved a former contractor breaking into the building.
Howell found that Trump’s removals of the board members, and the subsequent actions winding down the institute, violated the protections Congress created to keep it as an independent think tank that “carries out its own international peace research, education and training, and information services.”
“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,” Howell wrote.
Howell found that the USIP was “unique in its structure and function,” as a nonprofit with ties to the federal government. Howell wrote that because the organization does not wield any government authority, and only advocates for peace generally, Congress has the power to protect board members from removal.
“Congress’s restrictions on the President’s removal power of USIP Board members are squarely constitutional, and the President and his Administration’s acts to the contrary are unlawful and ultra vires [beyond their legal authority],” Howell wrote.
In a separate order, Howell voided actions of the takeover, including: the removal of board members and George Moose, the acting president; the appointments of two acting presidents; and any transfer of assets to the General Services Administration.
Congress created the institute as an independent nonprofit in 1984, establishing rules protecting its board members and president from removal, the initial suit said.
The Trump administration started the takeover after a Feb. 19 executive order titled “Commencing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy” that targeted USIP and other institutions for reductions. USIP regularly receives congressional funding and received $55 million in fiscal 2023.
The federal law creating the USIP created a 12-member board including several administration officials as well as board members subject to Senate confirmation. In March the Trump administration sought to remove all non-administration board members and replace Moose.
After that the administration staged a dramatic takeover of the nonprofit, enlisting fired security contractors and Washington police to seize the building, Howell wrote. After that the administration reduced the organization to its “statutory minimum” operations, which included firing staff and canceling contracts.
The nonprofit’s new leadership also transferred the organization’s building, which it owned, to the federal government without any compensation.
Howell said that because those changes were “effectuated by illegitimately-installed leaders who lacked legal authority to take these actions, which must therefore be declared null and void.”
Initially, Howell had denied a request for a temporary order to stop the winding down of the Institute’s operations.
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