A Monday-Night Injunction With a 10-Day tripwire
Late on Monday evening, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes granted a preliminary injunction barring the Interior Department and the National Park Service from removing or damaging any additional trees at the East Potomac Golf Course in Washington, D.C. The order also requires the administration to give at least 10 business days' written advance notice before making any "irreparable modification" to any "forms or features" of East Potomac Park while the lawsuit plays out. The injunction extends an earlier court-ordered pause that had frozen work through October 26.
430 Trees in One Day, 15 Hours After a Friday-Evening Notice
Routine Maintenance in Court, Championship Course Everywhere Else
The Interior Department has framed the work as a seven-year-old plan to address tree overgrowth and restore the course's historic character, including reopened views toward landmarks such as the Washington Monument and the Potomac River. Reyes found otherwise: the government, she wrote, had been taking steps to realize President Trump's vision of a championship-level course while passing the work off in court as routine maintenance. "The Court acts now only because the Government did what it assured all it would not do," she wrote, noting she had denied roughly a dozen earlier requests for relief before early October.
A Rare Collision Between Government Lawyers and the President's Posts
The case featured an extraordinary confrontation between the bench and Justice Department lawyers. On October 12, government attorneys assured the court that nothing more would happen and that Trump was only in the preliminary stages of planning. Days later, Trump posted that work would begin "IMMEDIATELY" and that the course would close on November 15 — a date a senior Interior Department staffer testified he first learned from Trump's post. Reyes excoriated the government over the contradiction and sharply criticized Justice Department lawyers for positions at odds with the president's public statements.
Trump's Plan: November 15 Closure, 15 Months, a Tour-Caliber Course
Trump has said the 106-year-old public course will close on November 15 for a roughly 15-month renovation designed by golf architect Tom Fazio, producing a "World Class" course able to hold top-level tournaments. He has called the current course old, dilapidated and hazardous, citing falling, diseased trees and a collapsing seawall. Within hours of the injunction, Trump pledged to appeal and vowed to proceed. Rejecting the administration's separation-of-powers argument — the order targets the agencies, not the president — Reyes wrote that "'separation of powers' is not a talismanic incantation that permits the Executive to run amok, unchecked."
Who Is Suing, and What Comes Next
The plaintiffs are the D.C. Preservation League and two golfers, who argue the work is inflicting irreversible damage on a century-old public park. The preliminary injunction holds for the duration of the litigation, with the 10-business-day notice requirement acting as a tripwire against any repeat of the October 10 cutting. Whether the November 15 closure and 15-month timetable survive will depend on the court's next rulings and the administration's promised appeal.
