Appeals Court Allows Trump Administration to Fire USIP Board Members

The president is authorized to remove executive officers ‘at will,’ the court said.

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on June 27, 2025. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has overturned a lower court ruling that had prevented the Trump administration from restructuring the leadership at the Institute of Peace (USIP), according to a June 27 order.

The issue stems from a Feb. 19 executive order from President Donald Trump declaring USIP “unnecessary” and calling for its activities to be “eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.”