Judge blocks tree removal from DC golf course, orders government to give notice before further changes

A federal judge Monday evening has indefinitely blocked the Trump administration from removing even a single tree from a public golf course in Washington, D.C., which President Donald Trump intends to immediately transform into a championship-style course. She ordered the government to provide at least ten business days’ notice of any closure or “irreversible alteration” to East Potomac Park.

U.S. District Ana Reyes granted a request from a coalition of a conservative group and local golfers to stop the Trump administration from razing the course after the government abruptly cut down hundreds of trees over a recent holiday weekend.

Reyes included an exception in his ruling, allowing the Trump administration to remove any tree or make any change to an aspect of the park that poses an “imminent threat,” provided they provide the court and plaintiffs with 24 hours’ notice and submit an affidavit from a senior National Park Service employee “attesting to the threat and the necessity of measures taken to address it.”

In his ruling, Reyes highlighted a dispute that arose at the previous hearing, when — although President Trump posted on social media that day that plans for the golf course were moving forward — government lawyers denied there was a final plan.

“At this preliminary stage, the Court finds the plan to be final,” Reyes wrote, adding, “This is borne out not only by the numerous positions of the President and Secretary, but also by the actions of the Government, not the least of which is the removal of hundreds of healthy, non-invasive trees without notice,” Reyes wrote in the decision.

Reyes expressed frustration with the repeated disconnect between the government’s arguments in the courtroom and the president’s statements in the court of public opinion.

“Rarely, if ever, has the United States Department of Justice urged a federal court to disbelieve the sitting president. Don’t believe it that a cabinet secretary “developed” a federal land project. Don’t believe it that the secretary’s agency will destroy a historic golf course already on the land. Don’t believe it that “restoration work” will begin “IMMEDIATELY!” “Don’t believe what the president has repeatedly said to the American public,” Reyes wrote.

“And yet here we are.”

Reyes has repeatedly refused to make any ruling in the matter, choosing instead to trust the government.

“The Court is now acting only because the government has done what it promised not to do,” Reyes wrote. “Without meaningful notice to plaintiffs or the court, on October 10, he bulldozed hundreds of trees on the route. He did so even though, as two NPS officials testified, there was no emergency.”

“This is a major victory that will rightly protect East Potomac Park from further irreparable harm. We are grateful that the court stepped in to stop the greed and lawlessness of the Trump-Vance administration while the case continues, and we look forward to litigating this case in court,” Skye Perryman, CEO and president of Democracy Forward, which represents the plaintiffs, said in a statement Monday.

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to MS NOW’s request for comment.

The coalition filed a lawsuit earlier this year amid plans by Trump to revamp the course. They had asked Reyes to block the Trump administration from making changes — including cutting down more trees — without giving them and the judge sufficient notice. They also asked for the same advice if the government considered closing the course.

Reyes had previously asked the government to give him sufficient notice before cutting down more than ten trees. She held a hearing last week – the second on the issue in a week – to determine why the government defied her request.

During the marathon hearing, Reyes heard arguments on the plaintiffs’ request to restrict government renovation work, as well as testimony from top officials at the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service.

This hearing took place the same morning that Trump announced on Truth Social detailed plans to immediately close and completely renovate the golf course. The announcement created discord in the courtroom, with the government repeatedly saying there were no final plans for the renovation.

A senior Interior Department official and the acting director of the National Park Service said they had no knowledge of firm plans to close the course and begin renovations.

Reyes pressed Justice Department lawyers about the president’s announcement.

“So who should 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 respond directly to Reyes’ question, but had asserted earlier in the hearing that “the agency’s position is that there is no final plan.”

Throughout the hearing, Reyes demanded answers about the government’s decision to abruptly cut down hundreds of trees without notice, after explicitly asking the government over the summer to provide sufficient notice if it planned to remove more than 10 trees from the course.

The government has argued the tree felling was part of a 2019 plan to restore the course to its original design. But the plaintiffs rejected that claim, arguing that the tree felling is only happening now because of the president’s plans for the golf course.

Reyes was also skeptical about the timing of the tree felling.