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U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell said she was "offended" by how employees of the Department of Government Efficiency treated USIP employees.
WASHINGTON — A federal judge declined on Wednesday to put an emergency stop to the Department of Government Efficiency’s takeover of an independent nonprofit agency, but voiced concerns about the “strongarm” tactics used by DOGE employees.
The U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) was thrust into the spotlight earlier this week when DOGE employees entered its headquarters with the assistance of law enforcement officers from three separate agencies. The institute and its acting president, Ambassador George E. Moose, had attempted to keep DOGE out – arguing it was an independent nonprofit created by Congress that operated outside of the executive branch.
The agency was one of four targeted by President Donald Trump in an executive order last month to shrink the size of the federal bureaucracy. Last week, nearly every member of USIP’s board was fired, save for Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and National Defense University President Peter Garvin. The three remaining members then appointed Kenneth Jackson, a State Department official who has been involved in the effort to dismantle USAID, as USIP’s new acting president.
On Wednesday, five of USIP’s board members who were fired by President Donald Trump sued to be reinstated. The complaint argued the Trump administration had reached outside of the executive branch and “plundered” an independent agency it had no control over.
During a hearing Wednesday afternoon, U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell probed that idea – but ultimately came away unconvinced.
“It has qualities of both complete independence outside the executive branch,” Howell said, “and yet other features – from grantmaking to reporting to Congress, to its tasking in maintaining peace around the world, to being subject to FOIA as federal agencies are – that make it a very complicated entity and raises a question of likelihood of success on the merits.”
Howell said she would deny the temporary restraining order sought by the ousted USIP board members, finding they were unlikely at this point to succeed on the merits. At the same time, she repeatedly questioned Brian Hudak, a lawyer representing the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, over the way DOGE forced its way into the agency earlier this week and his office’s alleged role in threatening criminal investigations.
“Are you at least offended by how this was executed, Mr. Hudak?” Howell asked. “Because I have to say, I’m offended on behalf of the American citizens who have done so much service to this country to be treated so abominably. Let alone the directors on the board. And to strongarm a private contractor? To threaten – this U.S. Attorney’s Office – to threaten people with criminal investigations given the clear statutes versus the legal discussions about the removal power of the president? That we’re all waiting for the Supreme Court to give us clarity about that? That doesn’t strike you as a little offensive?”
Howell’s decision comes a week after another federal judge in D.C. declined to block a similar move by DOGE to take over and dismantle the U.S. African Development Foundation. Like the USIP board, USADF’s former president and CEO sued the Trump administration, arguing he and members of the agency’s board had been unlawfully removed from their posts. The agencies were among those specifically targeted by Trump in executive orders last month.
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