Dear Friends,
Over the weekend, we learned that the putative acting president of USIP, Nate Cavanaugh, was seeking to transfer ownership of the USIP headquarters and other assets to the General Services Administration (GSA). The assets to be transferred included the USIP Endowment, valued at approximately $25 million. At 10:30 on Monday morning, USIP attorneys filed an emergency motion with U.S. District Judge Howell to block the transfer.
At
10:00 a.m. Tuesday, April 1, Judge Beryl Howell convened a conference
to hear arguments on our motion. At the conference, she and USIP attorneys
learned for the first time of DOGE’s claim that the building and assets
had already transferred to GSA, and that GSA was organizing a lease of
the building to the Department of Labor. The DOGE lawyers further
claimed that the transfer was made pursuant to a resolution adopted by
Secretaries Rubio and Hegseth as ex officio members the USIP Board.
They argued that the sale was a simple transfer within the executive
branch and had been approved by OMB Director Vought.
In
her ruling, Judge Howell accepted the documentation of sale presented
by the DOGE lawyers as valid. She stated that since the transfer had
already taken place, she had no jurisdiction over the property, leaving
nothing for her to rule on in response to the USIP Plaintiffs’ motion.
Judge Howell did not rule on the central issue in our case, which is whether USIP is
or is not part of the executive branch. She has professed to have an
open mind on this question and has asked for a full briefing regarding
it.
While
declining to order DOGE not to transfer Endowment assets, Judge Howell
nevertheless questioned whether the government could freely dispose of
the $15 million in private donations to USIP and the
property paid for in part with private donations. Despite her evident
misgivings, she said she did not believe our argument met the test
established in the All Writs Act, a very high bar, that would allow her
to preserve her jurisdiction over the transferred assets.
The
Judge affirmed, however, that even though the assets had effectively
been transferred, she still retains jurisdiction over the case and could
ultimately rule in our favor as Plaintiffs. Using a
bull-in-the-china-shop analogy, she acknowledged there might be no
assets left even if the Plaintiffs prevail. She stated that the law
does not guarantee the condition or even existence of assets recovered
by a winning plaintiff. She indicated, however, that plaintiffs might
have other ways to recover their lost assets, noting that USIP Plaintiffs have the right to sue the government for its losses.
Judge
Howell concluded the hearing by re-emphasizing her intention to rule
expeditiously on the merits of the complaint. She also indicated that
she needed more information to decide the central issue of whether USIP is
part of the executive branch or a non-governmental corporation. This
question is key to a determination as to whether the Government acted
lawfully in dismissing members of the USIP Board.
We
are deeply disappointed that Judge Howell did not grant the relief we
were seeking through our emergency motion. Our focus, and that of our
lawyers, is now on building our argument on the merits of our case.
Judge Howell has established an expedited timetable under which all
arguments and counter-arguments must be presented to her by April 28.
The deadline for our next court filing is tomorrow, April 4.
Thank you for your continued support.
George