A federal judge on Monday night indefinitely blocked the Trump administration from removing even a single tree from a public golf course in Washington, D.C. that President Donald Trump intends to immediately transform into a championship-style course. She has ordered the government to provide notice of at least ten business days before any closure or any “irreversible modification” to the East Potomac Park.

U.S. District Ana Reyes granted the request by a coalition of a preservationist group and local golfers to block the Trump administration from razing the course after the government abruptly chopped down hundreds of trees over a recent holiday weekend.

Reyes included one exception in her ruling, allowing the Trump administration to remove any tree or make any modification to an aspect of the park that is an “imminent threat,” as long as they provide both the court and the plaintiffs 24 hours’ notice and submit a sworn declaration from a senior National Parks service employee “attesting to the threat and the need of the taken action to address it.”

In her ruling, Reyes pointed to a dispute from the previous hearing, when — despite President Trump posting on social media that day that plans for the golf course were moving ahead — lawyers for the government denied that there was a final plan.

“At this preliminary posture, the Court finds that the Plan is final,” Reyes wrote, adding, “This is confirmed not just by the President’s and Secretary’s many posts, but also by the Government’s actions, not the least of which is the removal of hundreds of healthy, non-invasive trees on no real notice,” Reyes wrote in the ruling.

Reyes expressed frustration at the repeated disconnect between the government’s arguments in the courtroom and the president’s statements in the court of public opinion.

“Rarely, if ever, has the United States Department of Justice urged a federal court not to believe the sitting President. Not to believe him that a cabinet secretary has “developed” a federal land project. Not to believe him that the secretary’s agency will destroy a historic golf course already on the land. Not to believe him that ‘Restoration work’ will begin ‘IMMEDIATELY!’ Not to believe him that the course ‘will be closed’ for over a year. Not to believe what the President has repeatedly told the American public,” Reyes wrote.

“And yet, here we are.”

On several occasions, Reyes had declined to issue any sort of a ruling in this case, instead choosing to trust the government.

“The Court acts now only because the Government did what it assured all it would not do,” Reyes wrote. “Without meaningful notice to Plaintiffs or the Court, on October 10, it bulldozed hundreds of trees on the Course. It did so even though, as two NPS officials have testified, there was no urgency.”

“This is a big win that will rightly protect East Potomac park from further irreparable harm. We are grateful the court intervened to stop the Trump-Vance administration’s greed and lawlessness while the case continues, and we are eager to argue the case in court,” Democracy Forward CEO and President Skye Perryman, who represents the plaintiffs, said in a statement Monday.

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to MS NOW’s request for comment.

The coalition filed a lawsuit earlier this year amid reports of Trump’s plans to redevelop the course. They had asked Reyes to block the Trump administration from making any changes – including chopping more trees – without giving them and the judge adequate notice. They also asked for the same notice if the government plans to close the course.

Reyes had previously requested the government provide her sufficient notice before cutting down more than ten trees. She held a hearing last week— the second on the matter in a week — to determine why the government had defied her request.

During the marathon hearing, Reyes heard arguments over the plaintiffs’ request to restrict the government’s renovation work, as well as testimony from top Interior Department and National Parks Service officials.

That hearing happened the same morning Trump announced on Truth Social detailed plans to immediately close and completely overhaul the golf course. That announcement created a disconnect in the courtroom, as the government has repeatedly argued that there are no final plans for the renovation.

Both a top Interior Department official and the acting Director of the National Parks Service testified they had no knowledge of firm plans to close the course and begin renovations.

Reyes pressed the Department of Justice lawyers on the president’s announcement.

“So who do I believe, the President of the United States, or do I believe you?” she asked Robert Stander, a lawyer representing the government.

Stander did not directly answer Reyes’ inquiry but had affirmed earlier in the hearing that “the agency’s position is that there is no final plan.”

Throughout the hearing, Reyes demanded answers about the government’s decision to abruptly chop hundreds of trees with little notice after she had explicitly asked the government over the summer to provide sufficient notice if they planned to remove more than 10 trees from the course.

The government has maintained that the tree chopping was part of a 2019 plan to restore the course to its original design. But the plaintiffs pushed back on that claim, arguing that the tree removal is only happening now because of the president’s plans for the golf course.

Reyes was also skeptical about the timing of the tree removal.

Gregory Wischer, a deputy chief of staff at the Department of the Interior, testified that his team has been focused on “cleaning up the course.”

Both Reyes and Abbe Lowell, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, sought answers about how and when the decision to abruptly chop hundreds of trees was made and why the government did not inform either the judge or the plaintiffs about the plan until the night before.

But they never received those answers. Lawyers for the government repeatedly objected, saying those conversations were protected by attorney-client privilege.

“It is my understanding that his testimony will be that he was just going fast and hard on all projects,” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said during the hearing. “His job as the deputy chief of staff is to move those projects along.”

Reyes pushed back on that claim. “There is no universe in which this all just coincidentally happened at the same time,” she said.

That assertion echoed her findings earlier this month when she temporarily blocked the government from felling trees and mandating they give three days’ notice before making any “irreparable modification” to the course. That ruling was designed to remain in effect through Oct. 26.

In that order, she expressed deep frustration with the government for defying her request to keep her informed.

“Breakneck speed to clear trees that posed no harm. The reason? Disputed. The budget? Unclear. The environmental impact? Unstudied. The urgency? None. Next step: bulldoze hundreds more,” she wrote in her ruling.

That temporary order marked the first time Reyes formally blocked the government from taking action regarding the golf course renovation. Since the case was filed earlier this year, she has gone out of her way to resist granting injunctions, instead choosing to trust the government would keep its word.

That trust was apparently broken after the government razed those trees over a holiday weekend. The government notified the court of its plans at 4:55pm on Oct. 9. The next morning — before the court could intervene — they had removed hundreds of trees from the course.

Reyes held an emergency hearing on Columbus Day. In the fiery four-hour hearing, she was livid, yelling at the government for their actions.

“I am just beyond disappointed in the government,” Reyes said. “I have done everything humanly possible to give the government the benefit of the doubt. I have done it for months.”

Trump’s plans for this local golf course – the latest in his series of construction projects – have gained national attention. East Potomac Golf Links was designed with accessibility in mind, to serve both diverse communities and the average golfer.

Many members of the D.C. community attended the hearing last week in support of the legal challenge.

During the hearing, Reyes alluded to the significance of the course to the community, saying this case is not just about a golf course redesign.

“We are talking about a historic golf course,” she said. “A place that has deep meaning to the people of the district, and is protected as a historic land site.”

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