In another marathon court session, a federal judge grilled Justice Department lawyers for hours after President Donald Trump announced plans to immediately overhaul a public golf course in Washington, D.C., and transform it into a championship-style course.
In the second hourslong hearing on the matter in a week, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes appeared inclined to indefinitely block the Trump administration from removing any trees from the East Potomac golf course and require three days’ notice before making any changes.
Reyes called for the hearings after the government abruptly chopped down hundreds of trees over a recent holiday weekend.
While Reyes appeared more even-tempered than in last week’s hearing, tensions remained high as Reyes expressed frustration with the government’s razing of the golf course.
“We are where we are, I’m telling you right now, I don’t think those trees were cut down because of the 2019 [Cultural Landscape Report],” she said. “There is a reason that the only part of a 2019 plan that was executed involved cutting down trees.”
A coalition of a preservationist group and local golfers filed a lawsuit earlier this year amid reports of Trump’s plans for the course. Now, the plaintiffs are asking Reyes to block the Trump administration from making any changes — including chopping a single tree — without giving them and the judge adequate notice. They are also asking for that same notice if the government plans to close the course.
“Defendants have been saying one thing and doing another: insisting that there is no plan to destroy East Potomac Park Golf Course,” the plaintiffs wrote in a court filing. “But all the while implementing that plan piecemeal.”
“The tree-clearing operation was yet another step in that plan — one that Defendants segmented from the rest of the plan to circumvent [the National Environmental Policy Act] and ensure it would become a fait accompli before this Court had an opportunity to intervene,” the plaintiffs added.
In a hearing Monday, Reyes heard arguments and testimony from top Interior Department officials and the National Park Service about the government’s intentions for the course.
The hearing happened one day after Trump announced on social media detailed plans to close and completely overhaul the golf course beginning next month. The government has argued in court that there are no final plans for renovation yet.
The government has repeatedly argued that the tree chopping was part of a 2019 plan to restore the course to its original design. But the plaintiffs contend that the tree removal is only happening now as part of the Trump-backed reconstruction plan that will force the closure of the course and make it unattainable to the diverse communities it had served.
The president remains seemingly unfazed by the court proceedings, writing on Truth Social over the weekend that the course in its current state is “completely overgrown, dysfunctional, and unsafe.” He announced that work on a new design will begin in November and that the course will reopen in approximately 15 months. On Monday morning, the president doubled down, announcing the timeline of the construction would commence “immediately.”
Both a top Interior Department official and the acting director of the National Park Service testified they had no knowledge of firm plans to close the course and begin renovations.
The witnesses’ testimony did little to answer questions surrounding the decision-making process to abruptly chop down hundreds of trees. Many of those answers remained shielded by attorney-client privilege.
Lawyers representing the government have argued there is no final plan for the golf course renovation. Reyes pushed back on those arguments, pointing to the difference between what she is hearing in the courtroom and what Trump says in public.
“So who do I believe, the president of the United States, or do I believe you?” she asked Robert Stander, a lawyer representing the government.
Stander did not answer Reyes directly but had earlier affirmed that “The agency’s position is that there is no final plan.”
Toward the end of the hearing, Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, whom Reyes had ordered to appear in person, told her, “There is no plan to close the course on November 15.”
While the plaintiffs remained narrowly focused on the tree-cutting issue, they also spoke about the harm of a complete overhaul.
“What our clients are challenging is the destruction of the current course,” Mark Samburg, a lawyer representing the coalition that brought the lawsuit, said. “They are attached to the existing course.”
East Potomac Golf Links was designed with accessibility in mind, to serve both diverse communities and the average golfer. They argue Trump’s plans for the course would remove that accessibility.
Samburg said telling these amateur golfers they could play on this new course would be like telling them they could play “pickup softball at Fenway.”
Reyes said the project is not just a simple redesign because of the ties community members have with the course.
“We are talking about a historic golf course, a place that has deep meaning to the people of the district, and is protected as a historic land site,” she said.
Reyes has already issued an emergency order, blocking the government from felling trees and mandating they give three days’ notice before making any “irreparable modification” to the course. That order will remain in effect through Oct. 26.
In that order, she expressed deep frustration with the government for its actions.
“Breakneck speed to clear trees that posed no harm. The reason? Disputed. The budget? Unclear. The environmental impact? Unstudied. The urgency? None. Next steps: bulldoze hundreds more,” she wrote.
That temporary order marked the first time Reyes formally blocked the government from taking action with regard to the golf course. Throughout the lawsuit, she has resisted granting injunctions, instead choosing to trust that the government would not act without first informing her.
In a hearing in July, she reiterated her request. “I have not ordered anyone not to build something,” Reyes said. “All I have asked was if more than ten trees are going to be chopped down, please let us know, so if plaintiffs want to move they can.”
“I want you to tell them basically before things start getting chopped down in a massive way that’s irretrievable and we’re basically like we’re moving forward,” Reyes added. “I want them to have time to come back to me.”
But that trust was broken earlier this month, when the government abruptly announced it planned to chop more than 500 trees from the golf course. That announcement was filed at 4:55 p.m. on the Friday before a holiday weekend. The Trump administration began felling trees the following morning before Reyes or the plaintiffs could respond.
That razing prompted Reyes to grant an immediate restraining order against the government and call an emergency hearing.
During that four-hour hearing last week, the temperature reached a boiling point. Reyes was livid, yelling at the government for defying her directive to keep her informed.
“I am just beyond disappointed in the government,” Reyes said. “I have done everything humanly possible to give the government the benefit of the doubt in this case. I have done it for months.”
Reyes heard testimony from two top National Park Service officials, seeking to understand why there had been such urgency to remove hundreds of trees.
When asked if there was an urgency for the tree removal, Kevin Griess, superintendent of the National Mall and Memorial Parks, responded, “Not that I’m aware of.”
“So the trees could be cut down tomorrow, or they could be cut down in a month from now, and from the government’s perspective, it’s basically the same?” Reyes asked.
“From what I understand, Your Honor, yes,” Griess responded.
Unsatisfied with their explanations about the urgency and unable to reach a top Interior Department official, she concluded that hearing. But she did not conclude her investigation. She demanded the government bring that Interior Department leader — and any other relevant government officials — back into her courtroom so she could get to the bottom of the decision to chop hundreds of trees.
“Someone is going to explain that to me,” Reyes said. “Because this is totally beyond the pale.”
At the end of the full-day hearing, Reyes left the courtroom with a stern announcement. She had indicated her family had informed her a news organization had reported she was receiving death threats because of this case. The room fell silent.
“That a federal judge is getting death threats over a golf course,” Reyes said. “I really don’t think that’s what the founders envisioned.”
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