A federal judge on Saturday blocked closing of Washington, D.C.’s East Potomac Golf Course, demanding that the National Park Service maintain public access to the course and surrounding park just hours before President Donald Trump had promised to close it for a massive renovation.
The temporary restraining order issued by U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes does not require the Trump administration to continue golf operations, which officials say cannot continue because of their recent decision to terminate the golf course operator’s lease. But she said the lack of a provider to manage the golf course cannot be used to justify closing a large portion of Hains Point Park to the public.
“The government’s hands are tied. But the government has married itself,” wrote Reyes, who called the park service’s insistence on closing the park starting Sunday “irrational.”
The Biden-appointed judge said it was clear the Trump administration was rushing to close the park to satisfy the president’s directives — and offered numerous clearly “pretextual” justifications to appear to follow legal procedures. Those justifications included the need to repair a levee that had been deemed defective for years, but which the administration said was now so degraded that it amounted to an emergency.
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