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Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Federal judge blocks Trump dismantling of US Institute of Peace
A federal judge blocked the Trump administration's dismantling of the U.S. Institute of Peace, writing in a ruling that the removal of its board members and the takeover of its headquarters by members of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are actions that are "null and void." The response this week from U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell comes after the Institute filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration in March calling for "the immediate intervention of this Court to stop Defendants from completing the unlawful dismantling of the Institute and irreparably impairing Plaintiffs' ability to perform their vital peace promotion and conflict resolution work as tasked by Congress." "The Administration removed the Institute's leadership, including plaintiff Board members and its president in contravention of statutory limitations, and had personnel from a newly created federal office, called the Department of Government Efficiency, forcibly take over the Institute's headquarters on March 17," Howell wrote in her ruling. "With a newly installed USIP president, the Administration then handed off USIP's property for no consideration and abruptly terminated nearly all of its staff and activities around the world." "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. The actions that have occurred since then – at the direction of the President to reduce USIP to its 'statutory minimums' – including the removal of USIP's president, his replacement by officials affiliated with DOGE, the termination of nearly all of USIP's staff, and the transfer of USIP property to the General Services Administration, were thus effectuated by illegitimately-installed leaders who lacked legal authority to take these actions, which must therefore be declared null and void," she added. Trump Administration Guts Institute Of Peace Of 'Rogue Bureaucrats' After Doge Standoff In Government Office The Institute of Peace is an independent, national institution funded by Congress that was established in 1984 under the Reagan administration to promote peace and diplomacy on the international stage. Read On The Fox News App "Congress has endorsed USIP's important work by continuing to fund the Institute through appropriations bills signed by seven different Presidents from both major political parties, including the current President during his first term in office," Howell said in the ruling. "In a drastic and abrupt change of course, within the first month of his second term, President Trump unilaterally decided that USIP is 'unnecessary,' issuing Executive Order 14217 to this effect, and then his Administration rushed through actions, including removal of Board members, to reach the professed goal of reducing all of USIP's operations and personnel to the bare minimum to perform only mandated statutory tasks, while ignoring the broader statutory goals set out for this organization to fulfill," she also said. Ultimately, Howell concluded, the Trump administration's actions "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." Judge Denies Embattled Government-funded Agency's Restraining Order Request Against Doge White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that "The United States Institute of Peace has existed for 40 years on a $50 million annual budget, but failed to deliver peace. "President Trump is right to reduce failed, useless entities like USIP to their statutory minimum, and this rogue judge's attempt to impede on the separation of powers will not be the last say on the matter," she added in a statement. In March, the White House said the Trump administration gutted the Institute of Peace of "rogue bureaucrats" who held a tense standoff with a DOGE team that required police intervention. "Rogue bureaucrats will not be allowed to hold agencies hostage," Kelly said at the time. "The Trump administration will enforce the president's executive authority and ensure his agencies remain accountable to the American people." The administration now has 30 days to file an appeal to the ruling. Fox News Digital's Emma Colton contributed to this report. Original article source: Federal judge blocks Trump dismantling of US Institute of Peace
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Judge Denies Emergency Relief For Fired USIP Members After Armed DOGE Takeover
While a federal judge Wednesday expressed disgust with DOGE's armed takeover of the U.S. Institute of Peace, she ruled against the fired board members' request to be immediately reinstated. Judge Beryl Howell of the D.C. District Court will instead let the firings stand for now, requesting that the parties come up with a schedule to move the case forward quickly. She found that the fired board members were not likely enough to succeed on the merits or be found to have suffered irreparable harm, pointing both to the uniqueness of the agency — a charitable corporation set up by Congress to operate independently — and the precedent set by the D.C. Circuit in Dellinger v. Bessent. In that case, the D.C. Circuit Court nullified a temporary restraining order from the lower court, which had restored the fired head of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel. She delivered her ruling from the bench, and it may have come as a surprise to the lawyers before her. She'd spent much of the two-hour hearing lambasting DOGE for taking over the USIP building and expelling its staff with armed law enforcement, threats of criminal investigation and unannounced home visits by the FBI. 'This conduct of using law enforcement, threatening criminal investigations, using armed law enforcement from three different agencies — the Metropolitan Police Department, Department of State security police, the FBI — to carry out Executive Order 14217 — all of that targeting, probably terrorizing, the employees and the staff at the Institute when there are so many other lawful ways to accomplish the goals,' she said, her first remarks to Brian Hudak of the U.S. Attorney's Office in D.C. 'Why? Why those ways here? Just because DOGE is in a rush?' Later, she asked Hudak if he was 'offended' at how the takeover was executed, saying that she was offended on behalf of the American citizens who had been treated 'so abominably.' While DOGE's takeover of USIP echoes its takeover of other small agencies oriented towards foreign aid and peacemaking, it has distinct, sinister notes. The board members were fired abruptly, by email, without any attempt to fulfill the statutory requirements for their removal, much the same as at other agencies. The members of the administration who serve as 'ex-officio' members of the board quickly installed their own president. But the use of law enforcement in the USIP takeover sets it apart. With mounting incredulity, Howell pressed the lawyer for the fired board members for details on FBI agents arriving 'unannounced' at the home of the Institute's security chief, as DOGE sought ways into the building. She gaped at DOGE's ultimate strategy for gaining entry: threatening all the federal contracts of the Institute's ex-security contractors, who still had a key that they ended up using to access the building. She counted up the total number of armed law enforcement on the premises: 'That's a lot of law enforcement at a charitable corporation's building to enforce this executive order, wouldn't you say?' she asked the attorneys. As she mulled granting the fired board members' request for reinstatement and tossing DOGE off the premises, she half-joked that it could spark an 'armed battle.' DOGE hasn't softened its methods, despite losing some other illegal-firing battles in the lower courts. Indeed, calls to impeach judges who rule against the administration — often amplified by Elon Musk — have only grown louder on the right, with President Trump calling for the impeachment of a 'radical left lunatic of a judge' who temporarily stopped his expulsion of Venezuelan migrants under war powers not used by a president since World War II. In a rare move, Chief Justice John Roberts released a statement rebuking the calls for judicial impeachment. Still, if actual lower court losses haven't stopped DOGE, it's hard to see how Howell's ruling allowing the firings to stand, no matter how sternly delivered, will slow its razing of the federal government — rendering one of her lines of questioning Wednesday an academic one: What are legal ways the administration could shrink the federal government 'without using the force of guns and threats by DOGE against American citizens and those who served our country for years?'
