A federal judge ruled Monday that the Trump administration unlawfully removed the board of the US Institute of Peace earlier this year and that subsequent actions taken by officials installed by the Department of Government Efficiency to cripple the agency are therefore “null and void.”
The lengthy ruling from US District Judge Beryl Howell is the latest defeat for the Trump administration in its attempts to exert authority over independent agencies.
USIP is not a federal agency within the executive branch. It was created by Congress as a nonpartisan, independent body in 1984 and owns and manages its headquarters.
“The President second-guessed the judgment of Congress and President Reagan in creating USIP 40 years ago,” Howell, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, wrote in the 102-page ruling. The ruling is likely to be appealed by the Trump administration.
Howell wrote that Trump and his subordinates “used brute force and threats of criminal process to take over USIP’s headquarters, despite being cautioned that this organization did not fall within the Executive branch and its leadership was not subject to the President’s unilateral Executive branch removal power.”
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