A federal judge has halted the Trump administration’s abrupt takeover of the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP), ruling that Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) acted illegally in its bid to dismantle the congressionally funded think tank.
Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court handed down the decision on Monday, declaring the DOGE-led seizure of USIP, supported by law enforcement from multiple agencies, a violation of federal law. The ruling marks a significant blow to President Trump’s February executive order that targeted USIP and several other agencies for closure.
In her opinion, Howell wrote that the administration had no legal grounds to take over the institute, which Congress established to carry out conflict resolution research and education worldwide. “The president ‘second-guessed’ the judgment of Congress and President Ronald Reagan in creating the institute 40 years ago,” she noted, “and the judgment of every Congress since.”
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The lawsuit, filed on March 18 by former USIP board members and its past president, argued that the institute was an independent nonprofit created by statute, and that its governance structure did not allow for unilateral executive intervention. The plaintiffs also contended that neither Congress nor the relevant oversight committees were consulted in the attempted dismantling.
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According to court documents, the takeover was carried out with unusual force. DOGE operatives, accompanied by FBI agents and D.C. police, returned to the USIP headquarters days after an initial failed entry attempt and ultimately transferred control of the building and its assets to the General Services Administration. Meanwhile, employees were locked out, allowed only to retrieve personal effects — with work supplies and office equipment left untouched.
The judge found these actions, including the mass termination of staff by email on March 28, to be illegitimate. “All subsequent actions are null and void,” Howell ruled, including the firing of employees and the transfer of property.
The court’s decision followed earlier denials by Howell to restrain the administration’s actions, as DOGE had already completed the takeover by the time plaintiffs were able to appear before her. She criticized the administration’s speed, comparing it to a “bull in a China shop.”
“The Constitution makes clear that the President’s constitutional authority only extends as far as Article II,” Howell wrote, “but even Article II does not grant him absolute removal authority over his subordinates, under current binding caselaw precedent.”
Reacting to the court’s intervention, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly, according to AP, said in an email, “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.”
Trump’s executive order targeting USIP was part of a broader agenda to scale back federal operations. The administration now has 30 days to file an appeal.
George Moose, USIP’s acting president and CEO and a former U.S. ambassador, acknowledged the deep disruption caused by the takeover. “I don’t think there’s any question that this has caused harm and damage, some of which in fact will be irreparable,” he said at a briefing.
Moose emphasized that rebuilding will be gradual. “We have an understanding that we once we return to the building, the challenge of restarting and recovering and rebuilding is in fact, going to take time,” he said. “We anticipate that we’re going to have to do this in phases starting out modestly.”
Outside the USIP building, roughly two dozen staff gathered in an emotional show of solidarity as parts of Howell’s ruling were read aloud. Many viewed the ruling as just the beginning of a longer legal fight but welcomed it as a turning point.
Tonis Montes, 36, from USIP’s Gandhi-King Global Academy, said the ruling offered a sense of justice: “There’s a lot to interpret in the ruling. If it were up to us, we’d be in that building, getting to work.”
Nicoletta Barbera, 36, the acting director of West and Central Africa programs, echoed that sentiment: “I was ecstatic — but aware this is just step one, but happy that some justice prevailed today.”
