Obama-Appointed Judge Blocks Trump’s Bid to Revamp Institute of Peace

A federal district court judge has blocked President Donald Trump’s efforts to reform the U.S. Institute of Peace by firing personnel and changing the agency’s management. 

In a ruling in a case brought by former Institute of Peace board members fired by the Trump administration, Beryl Howell, a senior judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, rejected the Trump administration’s authority over the agency.

The judge, appointed by President Barack Obama, wrote that the administration had ignored “the broader statutory goals set out for this organization [USIP] to fulfill,” and had “removed the Institute’s leadership, including plaintiff Board members and its president in contravention of statutory limitations.”

Early in his second administration, Trump had sought to reform the agency. That involved replacing the president of the institute with a Department of Government Efficiency employee, terminating most of the agency’s staff, and transferring ownership of the institute’s property to the General Services Administration. 

Howell concluded that the Trump administration’s actions were illegitimate and therefore “null and void.”

Reacting to the judge’s decision, Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., told The Daily Signal, “President Trump was elected to root out waste, fraud, and abuse. He’s doing exactly that—but activist judges are blocking him at every turn,” 

“Congress can—and must—fire these judges who think it’s acceptable for American taxpayer dollars to fund corruption like this,” Ogles added.

The judge’s decision is another roadblock to the Trump administration’s efforts to curb the federal bureaucracy in Washington by making it both more efficient and accountable to the priorities of the chief executive, whom the American people elected in November. The Trump administration has also been locked in a dispute with U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg over its ability to initiate deportations against illegal aliens. 

The Trump administration had argued in the case before Howell that the Institute of Peace should be categorized as an “executive branch component of the nation’s federal government exercising executive power through executive functions,” whereas the opposing counsel argued the institute is a “free-standing nonprofit.” Howell concluded in her ruling that the agency should not be considered a “part of the executive branch.”

Ogles pointed to information alleged in a post by DOGE as justification for the president’s reforms. 

“Before DOGE, the U.S. Institute for Peace gave $132,000 to Mohammad Qasem Halimi, an ex-Taliban official, and over $2.2 million to its outside accountant, who then tried to delete more than a terabyte of financial records. All while burning hundreds of thousands on private jets,” Ogles told The Daily Signal. 

The president’s actions with the institute mirror what he did with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced in March that 83% of the agency’s programs would be canceled. Rubio has been acting head of the agency since February.

The Trump administration has 30 days to appeal Howell’s rule.

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