Just hours after issuing what a Trump administration lawyer called an “untenable” command from the bench, a federal judge withdrew her order that would have forced the Department of Justice to refile a court brief with the names of career attorneys who agreed with it, reversing course Monday after a court hearing about golf course renovations stretched beyond six hours.
“Having spoken with my clerks and thought about it a little bit more, I am going to withdraw the request that DOJ refile yesterday’s brief and that I get identification as to who signed,” U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes said after a break, which followed hours of frustrations by her and the federal government over the Trump administration’s planned East Potomac Golf Links renovations in the nation’s capital.
Judge Ana Reyes
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Judge Ana Reyes (Screenshot/Sen. Dick Durbin, YouTube)
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Judge Ana Reyes (Screenshot/Sen. Dick Durbin, YouTube)
“We’ve all got better things to be spending our time on,” she added, calling withdrawal “the proper course.”
The reversal came hours after Reyes sharply challenged Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, the DOJ’s third-ranking official, who over the weekend had urged her to recuse herself from the case due to alleged impartiality, a request she denied Sunday evening. He also submitted a separate filing on Sunday that he signed alone, to which Reyes said he should resubmit with the signatures of career attorneys who had been handling the case prior to Woodward’s intervention.
When Woodward said on Monday that requiring the attorneys’ names would put them in an “incredibly untenable” position, Reyes coldly replied, “I don’t care what you think.” The government had also accused Reyes of yelling at line attorneys during much of the proceedings, a claim she disputed from the bench, leading to tense back-and-forth exchanges that often led to her and parties repeating their words and arguments throughout the hearing on Monday.
Despite her zealousness from the bench, Reyes’s walk back of her order from earlier in the day was not shocking to a lawyer who has practiced before her court.
Speaking on condition of anonymity to the Washington Examiner, that lawyer said the judge’s order may have been trying to distinguish the views of career attorneys from those of political appointees such as Woodward. The lawyer said Reyes may have reconsidered her decision after recognizing that requiring line government attorneys to sign or omit their name could force them into what the lawyer called a “Sophie’s Choice,” an impossible ultimatum between pleasing the judge and their DOJ superiors.
The prolonged court hearing conducted by Reyes, which has been the subject of a DOJ misconduct complaint once before, centered on a lawsuit brought by a so-called activist preservation group that is against President Donald Trump’s effort to transform the public course in Washington into an 18-hole championship venue.
The DC Preservation League and two longtime golfers sued this year, arguing that the administration is carrying out work on federal land without required approvals. East Potomac is part of the National Park System and is used by golfers, cyclists, walkers, and joggers.
East Potomac Golf Links golfers teeing off on Oct. 12, 2026.
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Golfers tee off near log sections cut from trees at the East Potomac Golf Links, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
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Golfers tee off near log sections cut from trees at the East Potomac Golf Links, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Reyes, a Biden appointee originally from Uruguay, has said she does not play golf, calling it “a good walk ruined.” The case has drawn her into a clash with the White House as Trump pushes to reshape the capital. On Monday, before the hearing, Trump called her “a crazed lunatic” on Truth Social and said construction would begin “IMMEDIATELY!”
The hearing followed the National Park Service’s removal of hundreds of trees from the course last weekend. At an earlier emergency hearing, officials said the work followed a 2019 modernization plan and was unrelated to Trump’s proposed redevelopment.
“There is no universe in which all of this just coincidentally happens at the same time,” Reyes said.
Greg Wischer, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum‘s deputy chief of staff, testified that the tree clearing was consistent with course cleanup while the administration considered possible designs. He acknowledged he knew about Trump’s plans, attended the president’s June visit to the site, and had copies of proposed layouts.
Acting National Park Service Director Jessica Bowron said the tree removal fit within the “small” projects she had described in a court declaration. She called East Potomac “a historically designed cultural landscape,” adding, “We are not managing East Potomac Park as a wilderness area.”
The plaintiffs’ attorney, Abbe Lowell, who notably represented Hunter Biden in his criminal cases, pressed Bowron on why her declaration had not mentioned the planned removal of hundreds of trees. Woodward objected, and Reyes said she was frustrated by “different stories from the government.”
The Trump administration, through its line attorneys in the DOJ, argued that a major overhaul would not be a final agency action reviewable under the Administrative Procedure Act. Reyes appeared skeptical and pressed attorneys on whether Trump’s social media posts reflected an actual plan. They said no plan had been finalized and the course was not set to close on Nov. 15.
TRUMP SHARES DETAILED PLAN OF EAST POTOMAC GOLF LINKS DESPITE LEGAL CHALLENGES
Despite her walk back at the end of the hearing, she did not rule out asking Burgum directly whether the administration has developed a plan for the East Potomac Park golf course, a sign of possible next steps in the litigation.
Reyes did not issue a preliminary injunction Monday against the administration or the Department of Interior’s work on the park. She suggested she may require the government to give plaintiffs advance notice before additional work on the park or a closure occurs.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
