WASHINGTON — A federal district judge on Monday tossed out the takeover of the U.S. Institute of Peace by the Trump administration and the Department of Government Efficiency, declaring that actions by “illegitimately-installed leaders” were “unlawful” and had to be declared “null and void.”
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell ruled that “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 “effectuated by illegitimately-installed leaders who lacked legal authority to take these actions, which must therefore be declared null and void.”
Howell wrote in her decision that USIP Acting President rge Moose would continue to serve as president of the organization and banned defendants from “further trespass against the real and personal property belonging to the Institute and its employees, contractors, agents, and other representatives.”
The lawsuit was filed in March, after members of the DOGE team took over the U.S. Institute of Peace with the help of law enforcement. Most U.S. Institute of Peace employees were subsequently laid off.
