DOGE’s ‘brute Force’ Takeover of Institute of Peace Was Illegal and Should Be ‘null and Void,’ Judge Says

On Monday, District Judge Beryl Howell blasted the administration’s attempt to dismantle the agency through “blunt force” and condemned the “gross usurpation of power and a way of conducting government affairs that unnecessarily traumatized” employees at the agency “who deserved better.”

Howell recognized that the agency is “unique in its structure and function — neither a traditional executive branch agency nor an entirely private nonprofit corporation,” and noted that the agency “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,” she wrote.

Therefore, the president’s attempts to remove the agency’s president, purge staff and take over the agency’s headquarters are “unlawful,” according to Howell.

Those actions were carried out by “illegitimately-installed leaders who lacked legal authority to take these actions, which must therefore be declared null and void,” she wrote.