President Donald Trump’s controversial plan to renew East Potomac Golf Links, a popular municipal golf course in Washington, DC, hit a roadblock Monday when Judge Ana C. Reyes issued a preliminary injunction temporarily prevent the Department of the Interior from making many changes to the course.
In a gripping 70-page opinion released Monday, Judge Reyes wrote that much of what government lawyers had told him misrepresented his intentions to redo the golf course and directly contradicted Trump’s public statements about the renovation. Reyes found that the government has already taken steps to begin Trump’s plan to redo East Potomac while telling the court that the work they were doing was routine maintenance.
“Rarely, if ever, has the US Department of Justice urged a federal court not to believe a sitting president,” Reyes wrote in his opinion. “I do not believe that a cabinet secretary has ‘developed’ a federal land project. I do not believe that the secretary’s agency will destroy a historic golf course already on the land. I do not believe that the ‘restoration work’ will begin “IMMEDIATELY! Do not believe that the course “will be closed” for more than a year. Not to believe what the president has repeatedly told the American public. Yet, here we are.
“This started as a case about golf. This good walk removed. But it has become much more. Now it forces the Court to reconcile the claims of President Donald J. Trump with the sworn testimony of several government employees and the argument of the senior lawyers of the Department of Justice.”
The opinion comes weeks after the National Park crew cut down more than 400 trees at East Potomac during the weekend of October 10. The government said the demolition was part of an effort to implement recommendations from a 2019 report to restore the course to its original links-style landscape, not an opening rescue in Trump’s vision. Judge Reyes initially halted any plans to cut down more trees for 24 hours, then extended the break to October 26. In a hearing last Monday, Judge Reyes said there was “no universe” where the removal of trees, Trump’s public announcement that the course would be closed for renovations began on November 15 and the public disclosure of plans for the redesigned course were casual.
Monday’s preliminary injunction went further to prevent the government from cutting down more trees. In the opinion, Judge Reyes prevented the government from taking any action that could indirectly destroy the trees, including the staging of heavy machinery. Judge Reyes went to great lengths to detail his requests so as not to give the government any room to act without his knowledge. Reyes asked the government to provide at least 10 days’ notice to the court before closing the course or making any “irreversible changes to any form or features” at East Potomac Park, including “the Park’s grounds, vegetation, course design, hydrology, trails and structures.” The order asked the government to inform the court of any work planned in East Potomac, who authorized it, who will carry it out, and if it is connected to Trump’s desire to redo the golf course. Government lawyers have said the plan is still being finalized, despite the president’s social media posts detailing the renovation plans drawn up by architect Tom Fazio.
On Monday night, President Trump was asked about the planned renovation when he returned to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland after a rally in Mississippi, and he was adamant that the plan will proceed as planned.
“It’s allowed,” Trump said. “The judge feels that she would like to approve how it goes. And she did not know that she was an architectural critic of golf courses. She does not know anything about this, so we will appeal.”
On Tuesday, Trump posted to Truth Social about the judge’s order and added a new statement that East Potomac is “extremely dangerous” because its remodeling must continue at full speed.
“In its current form, the Course is extremely dangerous to play,” Trump wrote as part of a larger rebuke of Judge Reyes’ sentence, “in that the narrow and nondescript fairways are too close, leading to a constant barrage of people who are hit with furious shots, and the echo throughout the fairway of the word, “OUT!” The judge has absolutely no right to keep this very important and beautiful Project. We asked the DC Circuit. Court for immediate remedial action. … We are closing the East Potomac golf course site as planned on November 15th to renovate and rebuild for Competitive (along with other such projects!), Safety, Modernization and Aesthetics reasons.
The DC Preservation League and two golfers are the plaintiffs challenging Trump’s remodeling of the 106-year-old park and course. They say that the work is causing irreversible damage. Trump’s Oct. 18 post revealed remodeling plans that bear little resemblance to the existing course. The designs show a dramatically redone Hains Point, a peninsula where East Potomac sits, turning the property into a single 18-hole golf course that stretches from coast to coast. The plans call for the removal of Ohio Drive, a popular recreational trail for walkers, runners, bird watchers and bicyclists that runs along the outside of the course. It also removes a century-old cherry grove and a historic miniature golf course. The plans that Trump unveiled on October 18 differ dramatically from the more modest proposal that was first presented. Residents have been playing golf at Hains Point for over 100 years. The facility, a historically affordable public course, currently includes an 18-hole Blue course, a 9-hole White course, a nine-hole Par 3 Red Course, a two-level driving range, practice areas and a clubhouse. Trump’s new plan reduces the course to an 18-hole layout with a new clubhouse, a large driving range and a practice area.
In her opinion on Monday, Reyes said that she hoped that the dispute could be resolved without her intervention, but the government forced her hand when it bulldozed more than 400 trees, doing “what it ensured everything would not do.”
Reyes joined a dissent written by the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in PGA Tour, Inc. v. Martin, noting that this decision is temporary.
“Here, golf and government collided again,” Reyes wrote. “By issuing this preliminary injunction, the Court does not end the round: it only sets the ball rolling until the parties can fully and fairly litigate this case.”
For more on the Battle for East Potomac, check out our YouTube explainer on the ongoing saga.
“>
