Judge Prevents Trump Administration from Closing Federal Agency
President Donald Trump has mandated the closure of the U.S. African Development Foundation.
On March 6, a U.S. judge temporarily halted President Donald Trump’s initiative to close a federal agency.
U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon granted an administrative stay, which prevents the federal government from proceeding with the shutdown of the U.S. African Development Foundation (USADF) until at least 5 p.m. on March 11.
Judge Leon issued the stay following a request for emergency intervention from Ward Brehm, president and CEO of the foundation, before federal attorneys had the chance to respond.
“An administrative stay ‘buys the court time to deliberate’: it ‘do[es] not typically reflect the court’s consideration of the merits,’ but instead ’reflects a first-blush judgment about the relative consequences’ of the case,” wrote Leon, citing a previous ruling.
Brehm filed a lawsuit against Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after alleging that DOGE accessed USADF systems with the intent to dissolve the agency.
He contended that Trump’s efforts to terminate the agency contradict a federal law stipulating that the agency “shall have perpetual succession unless dissolved by an Act of Congress.”
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On March 5, DOGE employees, along with Pete Marocco, who has reportedly been designated as the sole USADF board member, attempted to enter USADF’s offices but were restricted by Brehm, according to the lawsuit. A White House official informed The Epoch Times that this depiction was inaccurate and that the team managed to access the building following a U.S. Department of Justice determination of their right to enter.
Brehm sought a court order to prevent his removal without a definitive decision from the actual board of the foundation and to declare any actions taken by Marocco and “any other improperly appointed person” null and void.
Trump, with support from DOGE, has been executing a comprehensive strategy to reduce the size of the federal government, leading to the potential dismantling of certain agencies and the downsizing of others.
Anna Kelly, a White House spokesperson, told The Epoch Times in an email: “President Trump signed an executive order aimed at reducing the federal bureaucracy, which has minimized the USADF to its statutory limit, and appointed Peter Marocco as the acting Chairman of the Board. Any so-called rogue bureaucrats lack the authority to defy executive orders issued by the President of the United States or to bar his representatives from entering the agencies they oversee.”
Trump’s order also included the Inter-American Foundation, which is considered a sister agency to the USADF.
According to the lawsuit, DOGE personnel accessed the Inter-American Foundation’s systems under the pretense of assisting the foundation in modernization. After obtaining access, DOGE representatives informed the foundation that the intention was to dismiss most or all of the foundation’s employees and cancel all but a few contracts, as outlined in the complaint.
In response to the foundation’s refusal, Trump appointed Marocco as the acting chair of the foundation’s board and claimed that there were no remaining board members, according to the lawsuit. Marocco subsequently directed the U.S. Department of Treasury to eliminate the majority of the foundation’s contracts, and by March 3, he and DOGE began to cancel grants, return external donations, lock employees out of the foundation’s systems, and take down the website, as detailed in the complaint.
