In a searing 70-page opinion released Monday, Judge Reyes wrote that much of what the government’s lawyers had told her misrepresented their intentions to remake the golf course and directly contradicted Trump’s public statements on the renovation. Reyes found that the government was already taking steps to begin Trump’s plan to remake East Potomac while telling the court the work they were doing was routine maintenance.
“Rarely, if ever, has the United States Department of Justice urged a federal court not to believe the sitting president,” Reyes wrote in her opinion. “Not to believe him that a cabinet secretary has ‘developed’ a federal land project. Not to believe him that the secretary’s agency will destroy a historic golf course already on the land. Not to believe him that ‘restoration work’ will begin ‘IMMEDIATELY!’ Not to believe him that the course ‘will be closed’ for over a year. Not to believe what the president has repeatedly told the American public. And yet, here we are.
“This started as a case about golf. That good walk spoiled. But it has become much more. It now forces the Court to reconcile assertions by President Donald J. Trump with the sworn testimony of multiple government employees and the argument of senior Department of Justice attorneys.”
The opinion comes weeks after National Park Service crews cut down more than 400 trees at East Potomac over the Oct. 10 weekend. The government claimed the felling was part of an effort to carry out recommendations from a 2019 report to restore the course to its original links-style landscape, not an opening salvo in Trump’s vision. Judge Reyes initially halted any plans to cut down more trees for 24 hours, then extended the pause to Oct. 26. In a hearing last Monday, Judge Reyes said there was “no universe” where the tree removal, Trump’s public announcement that the course would be closed for renovations starting Nov. 15 and the public unveiling of the plans for the redesigned course were coincidental.
Monday’s preliminary injunction went further than stopping the government from cutting down more trees. In the opinion, Judge Reyes barred the government from taking any action that could indirectly destroy trees, including staging heavy machinery. Judge Reyes went to great lengths to detail her requests so as not to give the government any avenue to act without her knowledge. Reyes asked that the government provide at least 10 days’ notice to the court before closing the course or making any “irreversible modification to any forms or features” to East Potomac Park, including “the Park’s landforms, vegetation, course design, hydrology, pathways, and structures.” The order asked the government to inform the court of any planned work at East Potomac, who authorized it, who will carry it out, and whether it is connected to Trump’s desire to remake the golf course. The government’s attorneys have claimed the plan is still being finalized, despite the president’s social media posts detailing the renovation plans put together 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 the plan will proceed as scheduled.
“It has the go-ahead,” Trump said. “The judge feels that she would like to approve it as it goes along. And I didn’t know she was an architectural critic of golf courses. She knows nothing about that, so we’ll appeal that.”
On Tuesday, Trump posted to Truth Social about the judge’s order and added a new claim that East Potomac is “extremely dangerous” as reason that his remodel must continue full-speed ahead.
“In its current form, the Course is extremely dangerous to play,” Trump wrote as part of a larger rebuke of Judge Reyes’ ruling, “in that the narrow and nondescript fairways are far too close together, leading to a constant barrage of people being hit with wayward shots, and the echoing throughout the fairway of the word, “FORE!” The judge has absolutely no right to hold up this very important and beautiful Project. We are asking the D.C. Circuit Court for immediate remedy. … We are closing the East Potomac Golf Course Site as scheduled on November 15th in order to renovate and rebuild for Competitive (with other such projects!), Safety, Modernization, and Aesthetic reasons.”
The D.C. Preservation League and two golfers are the plaintiffs challenging Trump’s remodeling of the 106-year-old park and course. They claim that the work is causing irreversible damage. Trump’s Oct. 18 post revealed remodel plans that bear little resemblance to the existing course. The designs show a dramatically remade Hains Point, a peninsula where East Potomac sits, remaking the property into a single 18-hole golf course that stretches from shoreline to shoreline. The plans call for removing Ohio Drive, a popular recreational path for walkers, runners, bird watchers and cyclists that runs along the outside of the course. It also eliminates a century-old grove of cherry trees and a historic miniature golf course. The plans Trump unveiled on Oct. 18 differ dramatically from the more modest proposal that was first put forward. Residents have played golf on 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-tiered driving range, practice areas and a clubhouse. Trump’s new plan reduces the course to one 18-hole layout with a new clubhouse, a large driving range, and a practice area.
In her opinion on Monday, Reyes said she hoped the dispute could be resolved without her intervention, but the government forced her hand when it bulldozed over 400 trees, doing “what it assured all it would not do.”
Reyes echoed a dissent written by late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in PGA Tour, Inc. v. Martin, noting that this ruling is temporary.
“Here, golf and government have again clashed,” Reyes wrote. “By issuing this preliminary injunction, the Court does not end the round: it simply marks the ball 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.
