On Monday, crews began clearing fallen trees from the East Potomac Golf Links in Washington, D.C., a task that follows weeks of heated litigation over the park’s future. The suit, filed by historic-preservation advocates and local golfers, challenges the Trump administration’s intent to shut the municipal course and redevelop the surrounding parkland. The dispute intensified after the administration abruptly cut down hundreds of trees with less than a day’s notice, prompting the court to halt further work pending clarification.
Federal Judge Ana Reyes responded by issuing a 70-page opinion that not only extended the ban on tree removal but also required the government to give a ten-day written notice before any irreversible changes occur. The ruling was quickly appealed, yet the judge’s resolve did not waver; she summoned the parties to a Friday hearing – the third such session within as many weeks – to demand answers about the alleged secrecy surrounding the project.
Formal inquiry into possible misrepresentations
At the start of the Friday hearing, Judge Reyes read aloud the D.C. Bar Rule of Professional Conduct 3.3, which bars lawyers from knowingly presenting false statements to the court. She quoted the maxim, “Trial lawyers sometimes tell juries, ‘Trust but verify’,” and directly asked Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward Jr. whether he had any material facts to correct. Woodward replied, “Not to my knowledge,” adding that he had “lots of binders” but had not read every transcript. Reyes retorted, “I bet you do,” before moving on to a line of questioning that would last more than seven hours.
Reyes pressed Woodward on two pivotal points: the timing of the administration’s renovation plan and the consistency of the government’s earlier statements. In prior hearings, government lawyers – representing the Interior Department and the National Park Service – maintained that no final plan existed, even as President Trump’s social-media posts declared a definitive course of action. The sudden admission on Wednesday night that a plan to transform the course into a “championship-level venue” existed threw the court’s earlier assumptions into disarray.
Concluding the session, Reyes announced the creation of a formal investigation to determine whether agency officials, including DOJ attorneys, had violated ethical rules by misrepresenting facts. She indicated that a special master – a judicial officer endowed with full investigatory powers – would likely lead the probe, though she reserved the right to conduct it herself if the government rejected the appointment.
Government finally acknowledges a concrete plan
In the Wednesday night filing that triggered Reyes’s latest hearing, DOJ lawyers disclosed that the administration intends to close the park “next month” to accommodate both the golf-course redesign and emergency repairs to the crumbling seawall. The filing stated that the National Capital Planning Commission would receive a rendering designed by Tom Fazio for a world-class, championship-level course, and that the National Park Service would submit the plan on Friday for review. The same document confirmed that the park south of Buckeye Drive would be closed in line with the President’s directive.
These revelations also introduced a costly seawall component. Acting NPS director Jessica Bowron recently warned that the century-old seawall has deteriorated to the point where “large sections of the sidewalk… are underwater twice daily,” creating safety hazards and damaging trees along the waterfront. Woodward estimated repair costs between $150 million and $400 million, though he declined to disclose the total expense of the golf-course renovation itself.
Tree-cutting, appeals, and the battle over public space
The judge’s earlier order to stop tree-clearing was issued just days after the administration’s abrupt removal of hundreds of trees. Reyes characterized the action as a “pretext” for commencing work without proper approvals and ordered the government to preserve all relevant documents to prevent loss of evidence. While the administration appealed the ban, it simultaneously filed the admission that the park would close in mid-November, effectively aligning its public statements with the court’s concerns. The National Links Trust, which operates the course under a 50-year lease, confirmed it would cease operations on or around November 15, further confirming the impending shutdown.
Amid the legal wrangling, the broader community fears that the redesign could permanently alter a space that, since 1897, has been mandated “to be forever held and used as a park for the recreation and pleasure of the people.” Congressional members, notably Rep. Jared Huffman, have already called for legislative barriers to prevent federal funds from being diverted to what they view as a costly, elite golf-course project. The outcome of Judge Reyes’s inquiry will likely shape the balance between presidential ambition and statutory protection of public lands.
