Judge temporarily blocks Trump from moving ahead on Washington public golf course redevelopment

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Saturday ordered a temporary stop to any work at a historic Washington public golf course not far from the White House, blocking for now President Donald Trump’s push to redevelop the site along the Potomac River into a championship-level venue.

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes issued the temporary restraining order before the East Potomac Golf Links was due to close Sunday for 15 months. Trump had announced work would begin that day despite the legal challenge initiated against the project in February by the DC Preservation League and two local golfers.

The plaintiffs argue that Trump’s plan would change the character of the accessible golf course and make it unaffordable, something the Republican president denies. They had sought the stop-work order, saying that closing the course and launching work on the project would “irreparably injure plaintiffs and the public interest.”

The park’s redevelopment is one of multiple projects in the nation’s capital that Trump has championed to remake the city. They include a large memorial arch, a White House ballroom and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, among others.

Reyes had signaled throughout a five-hour court hearing Friday that she was likely to issue some stoppage for the park closure. The only issue was how expansive it might be. Justice Department lawyer Adam Gustafson argued that the entire East Potomac Park, which includes three golf courses, a miniature course, bike riding lanes and other recreational areas, was being closed because of safety factors. He also noted that the lease between the government and the current operator, National Links Trust, was ending Sunday.

Reyes pointed out that safety had not been part of the discussion over the closure for months and that ending the lease felt more like an action that provided a premise for the closure rather than an action that led to the closure of the course about 2 miles from the White House.

She also rejected Gustafson’s argument that the closure was separate from Trump’s repeated pronouncements that he wanted the course to be closed and renovated into a world-class venue and had called repeatedly for the park’s closure by the deadline as part of what is known as the Washington National plan.

Even before the order, Trump lashed out in a social media post Saturday, contending that Reyes “doesn’t want us to quickly and inexpensively fix up the Course which is, also, very dangerous.” He said people who live in the Washington area would get a 50% discount on “any and all Rates charged” and that the redevelopment would “evolve into something very special, something which the Judge will be able to take great pride in seeing!”

Reyes’ order was the latest in a series of rulings in lawsuits challenging Trump’s projects that were issued just hours before construction was expected to begin. A different judge recently ordered a 14-day delay on work for the arch, a decision that came shortly after a key planning commission stacked with Trump appointees approved plans for the project.

Reyes, who was nominated to the court by Democratic President Joe Biden, had for months been reticent about approving the plaintiffs’ requests for work stoppages. The plaintiffs had argued the administration was moving ahead with work related to the project despite the pending lawsuit.

Her reluctance to issue orders ended in October, spurred in part by a tree-cutting spree by the administration over a holiday weekend with little notification to the judge or plaintiffs.

Officials and government lawyers said the tree work was part of a 2019 plan that recommended the cutting. In response, the judge confronted the administration over what she portrayed as deceitful actions over its intentions for the project.

Reyes has repeatedly expressed frustration over the minute planning details she has been asked to adjudicate, including over the trees being cut down at the 106-year-old park. The Justice Department filed a request that Reyes be removed from the case because of what it called her “egregious behavior” and questioned her impartiality. Reyes has not recused herself.

The restraining order was one of two issues Reyes took up during Friday’s hearing.

She announced plans last week to name Jessie Liu, a former U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, to examine whether officials with the Interior Department and the National Park Service and attorneys with the Justice Department had violated ethics or misled her during the course of the case. Gustafson asked her to reconsider and give the Justice Department the opportunity to show an outside investigator was unnecessary.

“It’s quite a cloud on the people it affects,” he said.

Reyes said she understood.

“To be frank with you I don’t want to do this,” she said, but she had an ethical obligation to at least look because “I think there is enough smoke that someone needs to consider whether there’s been fire.”