WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes on Monday ordered a 24-hour shutdown for felling of trees at East Potomac Golf Course, a historic Washington, D.C. course that is part of President Donald Trump’s plans to remake the city.
Reyes issued the order following a tense three-hour hearing in which she harshly criticized the government for misleading her with its actions over the holiday weekend.
Reyes said the 24-hour temporary order could be extended to 14 days if necessary. That’s been limited to a day in which the government is trying to find a key Trump administration official to discuss why a massive tree cutting in the park needed to take place over the holiday weekend, with little notice to the plaintiffs in a lawsuit seeking to halt the renovation projects or to the judge.
It is the latest example of the erosion of trust between the government and the independent judiciary, as the Trump administration attempts to impose scrutiny on its actions since the White House Ballroom to the enforcement of immigration laws.
The hearing began with a scathing 15-minute statement from Reyes, who rejected the plaintiffs’ repeated requests to stop the administration’s work, fearing that its strategy appeared to be to move projects forward despite legal challenges.
“I’m absolutely not amused right now,” Reyes said. “I don’t know how I could have said more clearly that I didn’t want what was going to happen to happen.” The judge added: “I gave the government the benefit of the doubt that they would not do precisely what they did. »
She told government lawyers dryly, “I wanted you all to be better than you have been.” »
The emergency hearing on a holiday expanded when the judge ordered the government to have various participants in the decision-making process participate remotely in the hearing.
Reyes plans to hold another hearing on Oct. 19 and wants to hear from Greg Wischer, deputy chief of staff at the Department of the Interior, and Jessica Bowron, acting director of the National Park Service. Wischer insisted that the work be done urgently, according to testimony by Frank Lands, deputy director of operations for the National Park Service. Lands said Bowron also played a role.
Reyes and the plaintiff’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, raised numerous questions about the timing and chain of command of the decision and whether the witnesses were aware of other plans by the administration.
Kevin Griess, the superintendent of the National Mall and Memorial Parks, cited a 2019 National Park Service cultural landscape report as a guide for the work.
Lands said it’s part of Trump’s 2025 order to make DC safe and beautiful. When questioned by Reyes, he acknowledged that although other golf courses in the city were also mentioned in the cultural landscape report, no discussion about the work had taken place.
___
Associated Press writer Matthew Daly contributed to this report.
Gn usa
