A Biden-appointed federal judge stepped in late Saturday and temporarily blocked the government from closing East Potomac Golf Course—just hours before President Trump’s roughly 15-month overhaul was scheduled to begin.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes did not permanently kill the project. Her temporary restraining order keeps East Potomac Park and the golf course open during their existing daily hours through November 28, or until the court orders otherwise, while the legal fight moves forward.
The Trump administration’s vision is no minor touch-up. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum unveiled a Fazio Design plan in May that he said would give the National Capital Region a championship-quality public course with steeply discounted rates for local residents.
The breaking order landed late Saturday, with the planned Sunday closure only hours away:
But the planned November 15 closure ran straight into the lawsuit brought by the D.C. Preservation League and two golfers.
In Saturday’s 30-page temporary restraining order, Reyes said the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on claims that the National Park Service violated the National Environmental Policy Act and the Administrative Procedure Act. Those are preliminary findings at the emergency-relief stage, not a final judgment on the merits.
The judge found that shutting the park and course for the renovation would change the status quo while the litigation is still pending. She also treated Trump’s prior public announcement of a final plan and a November 15 closing date as evidence that the government intended to implement the redesign.
The relief is tightly defined. The government cannot close the park or course during the hours they were open on November 14, but the order does not force it to run golf operations or sign a new concession contract.
Repairs remain allowed under the court’s earlier notice rules, and officials may temporarily restrict the immediate area around a genuine safety hazard. The order requires notice within 24 hours and a sworn declaration from a senior Park Service employee if an imminent danger forces such a restriction.
The Associated Press reported that the public course had been set to close Sunday for about 15 months and that its operator, National Links Trust, had already begun preparing for the shutdown. The park includes more than golf: the disputed closure also covered public roads and recreational areas used by cyclists, runners and other visitors.
The Justice Department said planning for a world-class course may continue and emphasized that the judge left room to limit access where the public faces actual danger. The plaintiffs, meanwhile, argued that closing the park before the court could decide the case would cause irreparable harm.
That distinction matters. Saturday’s order preserves public access for two weeks; it does not award either side a final victory over the redesign, resolve the environmental claims, or establish what the finished course may cost golfers.
The final language even tells the parties that the court will be available Sunday for emergency clarification. That unusual detail arrived after months of disputes over notice and compliance:
Reyes had already issued an October 26 preliminary injunction restricting further tree removal and requiring ten business days’ advance notice before the government made additional irreparable changes to the site.
The group opposing the overhaul quickly celebrated the access ruling while acknowledging an important limit: the judge did not order the government to keep operating the golf course itself.
Trump answered with a very different picture of what he wants to build.
In his direct Saturday statement, the president argued that the existing layout is unsafe because fairways run too close together, called for a cleaner and more beautiful course, and said the redesign could produce a championship venue worthy of a major tournament. He also promoted a 50% rate reduction for D.C.-area residents.
Trump sharply criticized Reyes and branded the current property “Trash Island,” saying Interior should be allowed to turn what he considers one of the country’s worst courses into its best. Those are the president’s judgments and political response to the order.
The headline’s political lineage is not in dispute. The Federal Judicial Center records that President Joe Biden first nominated Reyes to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in May 2022, but the Senate did not vote before that nomination expired.
Biden nominated her again on January 3, 2023. The Senate confirmed her on February 15, and she received her commission six days later after more than two decades in private practice in Washington.
That biography verifies who put Reyes on the bench; it does not decide whether her emergency legal findings will survive the next stage of this case.
For now, the public keeps access to East Potomac during its normal hours, and the government may continue permitted repairs and planning. The Biden judge has postponed the scheduled closure while she weighs the challenge, but the final fate of Trump’s overhaul remains unresolved.
This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.
The post Biden Judge Blocks Trump’s D.C. Golf Course Overhaul Just Hours Before Closure appeared first on 100PercentFedUp.com.
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[H/T 100PercentFedUp]
