Judge orders Trump administration to stop work on historic DC golf course | Trump administration

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes on Tuesday ordered a halt to tree felling at the East Potomac Golf Course until Oct. 26, putting another pause on work on the historic Washington, D.C., course that was part of Donald Trump’s plan to remake the nation’s capital.

Reyes issued the order a day after a tense three-hour hearing in which she harshly criticized the government for misleading her with its actions over the holiday weekend.

At that hearing, Reyes ordered a 24-hour break that 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 the mass tree felling in the park had 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.

The judge also ordered during this period that the government “shall provide the court and plaintiffs with three business days’ written notice before making any irreparable alteration to any permanent form or feature of the East Potomac Golf Course.”

The president has moved to transform the course into a world-class golf course while separately demolishing historic structures, redoing or renaming others and deploying the National Guard to Washington DC since the start of his second presidency in early 2025.

Some residents fear that planned changes to the golf course — where Trump visited with a cabinet member, a well-known golf course architect and plans — risk altering the character of a place that has served Washingtonians of all income levels for more than a century.

These residents fear that transforming the park into a high-end golf course will certainly result in higher fees and a likely loss of public space.