The RecordExhibit 117
Taking over the U.S. Institute of Peace, then putting his name on it
Mixed rulings means: Courts have ruled both ways on parts of it.
In March 2025 the administration fired most of the board of the U.S. Institute of Peace, an independent nonprofit that Congress created in 1984, and a DOGE team took over its Washington headquarters with the help of law enforcement officers.
What happened
Nearly all of the institute's staff were then terminated and its headquarters was transferred to the General Services Administration. The institute's acting president, George Moose, said DOGE had broken into the building. In December 2025 Trump's name was added to the outside of the headquarters in removable lettering, and in 2026 the removed board members went back to court, saying officials were preparing to carve it into the facade.
Where it stands
On May 19, 2025, Judge Beryl Howell ruled in a 102-page opinion that the board members were fired unlawfully and that everything done afterward by the leaders installed in their place, including the staff terminations and the transfer of the building, was 'null and void.' In June 2025 the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals put her ruling on hold while the government appeals, a preliminary order that left the administration in control. On Sept. 30, 2026, a panel of the same court voted 2 to 1 to bar the government from carving Trump's name into the building until it decides the case. The appeals court is also weighing how the Supreme Court's June 2026 decision allowing the president to remove officials at independent agencies affects the dispute.
The administration's side
The administration says the institute falls under the executive branch, so the president can remove its board. When DOGE took over, the White House said it had cleared out what it called rogue bureaucrats. In the dispute over the name, a Justice Department lawyer told the appeals court there are no current plans to engrave it on the building, and the department told the court the Supreme Court's 2026 ruling is a reason to deny the board members' request.
Sources
Permanent link: https://unredactedrecord.com/e/usip/