Judge puts new limits on Trump’s golf course renovation, blocks removal of more trees

By Tierney Sneed, CNN

(CNN) — A federal judge extended an order blocking tree removal from a Washington, DC golf course President Donald Trump is seeking to renovate, while imposing new notice requirements on any other major changes the administration seeks to make on the golf course grounds.

The new 70-page opinion from US District Judge Ana Reyes cited Trump’s own statements about his plans for East Potomac Golf Course.

The judge said she was forced to act now in the long-simmering dispute – which came to a head in recent weeks because the administration cut down 400-plus trees on the grounds with little notice – “because the Government did what it assured all it would not do.”

The ruling is a major setback for Trump’s efforts to turn the beloved but modest public golf course into a championship level course. It also sets the stage for an appeals court battle in a case that had produced sharp confrontations between the administration and the judiciary.

The new ruling comes after a showdown between the Trump administration and the federal bench in DC during a marathon hearing last week over the president’s efforts to overhaul the course.

Tensions were ratcheted up for those proceedings when Trump posted to social media that construction would begin at the course “immediately,” while calling Reyes a “crazed lunatic.”

“The events surrounding this case have become extraordinary,” Reyes wrote Monday. The way the Trump administration rushed to chop down hundreds of trees was “concerning,” she said.

“The Government appears to have set the timing of the tree removal and late notice to impede Plaintiffs’ ability to seek Court intervention,” Reyes wrote. “And its recent actions call into question other representations it has made to the Court over these many months.”

Reyes said she was reserving judgment on whether the government purposely misled her. But she indicated she is considering issuing a preservation order for all DOJ communications regarding the tree removal – a signal she may further probe the conduct of the government’s attorneys.

Under Reyes’ order, the administration cannot take any action to cut down, alter or harm additional trees on the grounds – unless to protect public safety, and in those cases, it must give detailed notice to the court. The Trump administration must also give 10 days notice for any plans to close the golf course or if it plans to make “irreversible” alterations to the course’s design, Reyes said.

Just before midnight Monday, Trump railed on Truth Social about Reyes’ ruling, while continuing to vow he will close the course on November 15 to renovate it.

“The judge does not have the Constitutional Right to ‘ask for or receive notices,’ which are time-consuming, unnecessary, expensive, and unconstitutional. We will immediately appeal this decision,” Trump said in the post. “To have to give advanced notices to a judge who has no expertise in Golf, Architecture, Landscaping, Construction, or anything else having to do with building such a World Class Project, is not fair, appropriate, or Constitutional.”

The lawsuit was brought by historic preservationists and individual golfers who alleged the administration was violating environmental law in how it planned to carry out Trump’s wishes to renovate East Potomac Golf Course – which for decades has offered affordable golf access to DC residents. Trump’s plans for the course would likely make it far more difficult to access and expensive to play, while eliminating much of the public park space that surrounds it.

The new decision stems from the October 10 move by the administration to chop down hundreds of trees from the grounds. In the months and even days before the mass tree removal, administration officials had claimed that the proposals for Trump’s renovation were still in their infancy, and there were no imminent plans for making major changes to the course.

After chopping down more than 400 trees, the administration continued to argue that the tree removals were separate from the overhaul Trump was planning and were instead the product of a 2019 proposal to make the course look more like it did when it was first built.

Reyes had expressed deep skepticism of that explanation. She had initially issued a temporary restraining order blocking all tree removal and requiring three days’ notice of any other major changes to the course. That TRO was set to expire on Monday.

In her latest opinion, Reyes concluded that she would trust Trump’s own public statements that renovations were beginning “immediately” over what government officials had claimed in court.

The Justice Department, she wrote, “asks the Court to disbelieve repeated public comments made by the President, who has stated in no uncertain terms that DOI and Secretary Burgum have a plan to redesign the Course.”

Reyes devoted a significant portion of her opinion Monday to defending the judiciary’s ability to serve as a check on the executive branch.

“One branch may not shield itself from accountability merely by invoking separation of powers principles without any reasoning. But that is all the Government has done,” she wrote.

This story has been updated with additional details.

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