A federal judge ruled in favor of the Trump administration on Wednesday, after a government-funded nonprofit organization filed a lawsuit protecting itself from “ongoing destruction” from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The U.S. Institute for Peace (USIP) filed a request for a temporary restraining order (TRO) on Tuesday, claiming that DOGE had committed “literal trespass and takeover by force…of the Institute’s headquarters building on Constitution Avenue.” The organization also accused the anti-waste initiative of “ongoing destruction of the Institute’s physical and electronic property.”
“Defendants have been and are at this minute engaged in conduct that will cause the Institute irreparable harm that will prevent the Institute from performing any of its lawful functions and is likely to utterly destroy it,” the lawsuit stated.
In a decision on Wednesday, Judge Beryl Howell motioned to deny the USIP’s request for a TRO. “I think there is confusion in the complaint that make me uncomfortable,” Howell said. “I would say I am very offended by how DOGE has operated in the Institute in treating American citizens…. but that concern about how this has gone down is not one that can sway me in the consideration of factors for TRO, which is emergency relief, which is exceptional,” she continued.
Howell, who was appointed as a senior judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in 2024, also said she was “particularly concerned about plaintiffs’ likelihood of success.”
“Two of the most important tests, likely to succeed on the merits and likely to suffer irreparable harm, are just a stretch here,” Howell added.
USIP, an independent institution funded by Congress, was established in 1984 under the Reagan administration. Its goal is to “[protect] U.S. interests by helping to prevent violent conflicts and broker peace deals abroad,” according to its website.
“Our work helps keep America safe, reducing the risk that the United States will be drawn into costly foreign wars that drive terrorism, criminal gangs and migration,” the agency’s website reads. “We help make America stronger by projecting U.S. influence and bolstering partner countries in regions destabilized by China and other U.S. adversaries.”
USIP had infamously not complied with President Donald Trump’s February executive order to pull back the “scope of federal bureaucracy,” refusing to reduce its size to the statutory minimum listed in the order.
As such, the Trump administration fired 11 of its 14 board members last week, leaving only Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and National Defense University President Peter Garvin.
Howell’s decision came shortly after the White House told Fox News Digital that the Trump administration had gutted USIP of “rogue bureaucrats.”
“Rogue bureaucrats will not be allowed to hold agencies hostage,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a Tuesday statement. “The Trump administration will enforce the president’s executive authority and ensure his agencies remain accountable to the American people.”
