The court discovers that the US Institute of Peace is not under enforcement control and rejects the administration’s request for stay.
A federal judge suspended her previous ruling that restored control of the US Institute of Peace (USIP), rejected the Trump administration’s bid on the proxy president and the board, blocking further administration attempts to dismantle the organization and establish new leadership.
“While USIP may be considered part of the federal government, USIP does not exercise administrative power and therefore is not part of the administrative division, so the President does not have an absolute constitutional removal agency for members of the USIP Board, but must comply with the laws that exercise his right to remove.”
Government lawyers also argued that even though USIP holds a unique position, its directors are still presidential appointees who can be freely removed under the president’s Article II authority.
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Howell rejected the position, saying that USIP does not exercise administrative power and is therefore outside the scope of the President’s unlimited removal agency. The May 19 ruling she upheld Friday wrote that Congress explicitly constituted the institute so that Congress could operate independently, with protection against unilateral enforcement interference. Howell described the administration’s actions as “a total of power” carried out “by acts of force and threats using local and federal law enforcement officials,” and described the attempt to dismantle the institute “unnecessarily hurting dedicated leadership and UNIP employees who deserve better.”
Howell also found that the government failed to show that it would harm him without staying. In contrast, the USIP confusion writes that restored leadership is “so difficult” to take on the “work of rehiring employees and staving off the dissipation of USIP’s reputation for goodwill and independence.”
The USIP representative president rejoined the institute’s headquarters on May 21, accompanied by George Foot, the organization’s external lawyer. The administration requested an urgent two-year stay to make time for appeals, and Howell also denied the request.
On March 14, White House officials fired a board member confirmed by the Senate via email. On the same day, Moose was removed by remaining former staff members, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegses, and replaced by Kenneth Jackson, an employee of the U.S. International Development Agency.
In a March 17 post on social media platform X, Doge allegedly rejected Kenneth Jackson (By By By), who was “approved by the USIP Committee, as approved by the USIP Committee). According to DC, officers at the DC Metropolitan Police Department later “arrived on the premises and escorted Mr Jackson into the building,” according to Doge.
The building was later moved to the General Services Bureau and leased to the Ministry of Labor.
The White House did not immediately respond to a court request for comment regarding the May 23rd ruling.
Jack Phillips contributed to this report.
