A federal judge halted President Donald Trump’s plan to renovate a municipal golf court in Washington, DC , on Saturday night, issuing a temporary order that requires the administration keep the course open after Trump said it would be closed on Sunday for the overhaul.
US District Judge Ana C. Reyes said the administration’s push to revamp East Potomac Golf Links into the championship course Trump desires – one of several construction projects the president has sought as part of his effort to remake Washington to his tastes and leave a legacy – likely violated environmental law and ran afoul of procedural guardrails for executive branch actions.
She said the Justice Department’s arguments in the litigation, where it claimed that the November 15 closure was happening for safety reasons, were “pretextual.”
“The Government proposes to close a historic park, daily enjoyed by Washingtonians of all stripes, indefinitely,” Reyes wrote, finding that the closure would “irreparably harm” the plaintiffs in the case, individual golfers and preservationists.
It’s the latest development in a monthslong battle between Reyes and the Trump administration – one that has prompted Trump smearing the judge on social media and suggestions from Reyes that government attorneys may have misled her.
The Justice Department has unsuccessfully tried to remove her from the case, brought by preservationists and golfers seeking to stop the redevelopment arguing that changing the course would run afoul of federal environmental regulations and diminish public access.
Trump, an avid golfer, first publicly proposed the idea of taking over and expanding the municipal golf course in May and was soon thereafter seen touring the grounds with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Tom Fazio, a well known golf designer who worked on several of Trump’s private courses.
The president initially said work on the East Potomac Links would begin September 1, which accelerated the legal challenge.
Saturday, the president continued to promote the project and posted photos of what he has called “Trash Island.”
“Unfortunately, Judge Ana Reyes doesn’t want us to quickly and inexpensively fix up the Course which is, also, very dangerous — The Fairways are far too close together,” Trump said in a social media post . “When you walk down the corridors of Trash Island, you don’t hear the sound of the running Potomac, all you hear is the sound of people screaming, ‘FORE!’”
In recent months, Reyes has expressed growing frustration with the administration.
In October, Reyes issued a stark order blocking tree removal and imposing new notice requirements after over 400 trees were removed from the course with minimal notice.
“More than just being upset and furious right now, I am just beyond disappointed with the government,” Reyes said during that hearing.
The administration claimed the removals were necessary and not tied to Trump’s desired renovation, a claim Reyes said she was “skeptical” of in last month’s hearing.
“The question goes to whether or not I have been lied to, whether I have been lied to in declarations about the plans, whether I have been lied to about the timing of things,” Reyes told Justice Department lawyers at the time.
The legal rationale of her ruling Saturday night turned on the National Park Service’s failures to take certain steps before overhaul that she found to be required by law – such has providing notice to the public of the plan and soliciting their comment on it.
“Notice-and-comment rulemaking is not impracticable merely because NPS wishes to accommodate President Trump and close the Park by November 15,” she wrote.
While the stakes surrounding the course have been comparatively low when put up against other legal battles roiling the Trump administration, the case has been one of several in which the administration has bristled at complying with court orders.
Other projects, such as the president’s efforts to rename the Kennedy Center, build a triumphal arch on the banks of the Potomac and construct a ballroom, are also all facing legal challenges.
