A federal judge ruled on Monday that the Trump administration’s takeover and gutting of the U.S. Institute of Peace, an independent nonprofit created by Congress to seek diplomatic solutions to global conflicts, were unlawful and a “gross usurpation of power” and ordered the reinstatement of officials ejected by the White House.
The March takeover and the subsequent termination of most of the institute’s work force followed an executive order from President Trump to cut its staffing to a bare minimum. The judge, Beryl Howell of U.S. District Court in Washington, wrote that such changes required the consent of Congress, but that the Trump administration had removed the institute’s leadership and installed handpicked replacements “through blunt force, backed up by law enforcement officers from three separate local and federal agencies.”
Judge Howell’s ruling, in a suit brought by former institute officials, was the latest judicial order blocking the administration’s aggressive efforts to assert power over Washington institutions.
In a statement on Monday, Anna Kelly, a White House spokeswoman, called the ruling a “rogue judge’s attempt to impede on the separation of powers” and suggested the administration would appeal. “President Trump is right to reduce failed, useless entities like USIP to their statutory minimum,” Ms. Kelly added. The institute has an annual budget of $50 million, appropriated by Congress.
The takeover unfolded over several dramatic days at the institute, which was established 41 years ago and whose headquarters sit on the National Mall. After the White House orchestrated the ouster of the institute’s president and top staff members, they refused to leave. Then in a showdown on March 17, members of Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team joined with private security and law enforcement authorities in a bid to take control of the building.
After a confrontation lasting hours, the institute’s top staff, including its acting president, were evicted by the Washington Metropolitan Police Department after the police determined that a State Department official had authority over the building.
The White House also fired all 10 voting members of the organization’s board. In the weeks that followed, all but four of the institute’s hundreds of workers in the United States and abroad were terminated. The institute’s work has since ground to a halt.
Judge Howell rejected the Trump administration’s argument that the institute was part of the executive branch. Instead, she wrote, “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.” Her order also prohibits the administration’s “further trespass” of the institute’s headquarters.
George Foote, a former lawyer for the institute who helped bring the lawsuit, lauded the judge’s decision and said that the institute’s former staff members had been working in anticipation of the institute being restored and were already taking steps to regain access to the building.
“The culture is intact and the management and staff are ready to go back to work,” Mr. Foote said.
Aishvarya Kavi works in the Washington bureau of The Times, helping to cover a variety of political and national news.
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