A federal judge kept control of the East Potomac Golf Links dispute on Oct. 18, rejecting the Trump administration's attempt to remove her while an order limiting tree cutting remains in place.
U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes denied a motion signed Oct. 16 by Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. The government sought her disqualification, reassignment of the case and release of hearing audio, arguing that her conduct in court showed she could not be impartial.
In her opinion, Reyes pointed to nearly a dozen earlier occasions when she had denied the challengers' requests for court intervention before trees were cut in October. Her decision to remain on the case does not settle the underlying lawsuit.
The challengers are the DC Preservation League and two golfers. In a separate Oct. 13 ruling, Reyes found they were likely to succeed on a claim that the work lacked adequate environmental review. She also identified likely recreational and environmental harm from further cutting.
According to Reyes' findings, crews cut nearly 430 healthy, noninvasive trees on Oct. 10. The National Park Service (NPS) had identified up to 529 trees for removal. That was the planned maximum, not the court's count of trees cut.
Park officials tie the project to 2019 landscape guidance favoring wider views across the historic course. Assessing the limited record before her, Reyes found that President Donald Trump's demand for speed drove the tree-removal plan.
Trump said Oct. 18 that Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and golf architect Tom Fazio had drawn up a championship-course plan. He put the closure of the current course on Nov. 15 and estimated the replacement would open about 15 months later.
In a filing that day, Woodward said the NPS had not finished reviewing the proposal and its details could change. The government argued that no final agency action had occurred for the court to review. Trump called Reyes a “crazed lunatic” on Oct. 19 and made a new announcement that work would begin immediately.
East Potomac opened in 1920 and is one of three NPS golf courses in Washington. The agency's history records a 1941 protest there that helped end segregation at the city's public courses.
A final ruling on the broader dispute is pending. The temporary order requires advance notice before other irreversible changes to permanent course features and bars further tree cutting through Oct. 26, unless the court acts sooner.
