A judge temporarily blocks Trump's plan to renovate a golf course in Washington
Federal Judge Ana Reyes ordered that East Potomac Park remain open to the public while litigation continues over the renovation project proposed by the U.S. president.
Illustration of Justice
A federal judge blocked the Trump administration's plan on Saturday to close East Potomac Park in Washington, D.C., to the public as part of a project to renovate its golf course.
Judge Ana Reyes ruled that the park, including its golf courses and trails for cyclists and pedestrians, must remain open while the legal proceedings continue. The order provides for exceptions for routine temporary closures and those necessary to address imminent and justified threats to public safety.
The decision dealt a setback for the president's plans, whose administration had announced the closure of virtually the entire East Potomac and Hains Point area starting Sunday, Nov. 15.
In her ruling, Reyes found that closing the park would cause "irreparable harm" to the plaintiffs, the Washington, D.C., Preservation League, whose members regularly use these facilities.
"It runs counter to the public interest in utilizing national parkland. And the Government has not plausibly identified any harm it would suffer from a temporary restraining order that preserves the status quo pending further proceedings," the judge wrote in the decision obtained by NBC.
The judge clarified that her ruling does not require the administration to keep the golf course or its services, such as the café or the pro shop. However, she specified that the government "cannot use the absence of golf operations as a reason to bar the public from the course."
Public safety, at the heart of the dispute
The Trump administration had defended the park's closure on the grounds that repairs were necessary, including the rehabilitation of a retaining wall that, it argued, posed an imminent threat to public safety.
However, Reyes expressed doubts about this justification. In particular, she noted that the National Park Service (NPS) had managed to cut down approximately 400 trees in the area over a period of just 10 days, an action she had previously described as "bad faith."
She also questioned why the agency had prioritized the removal of healthy trees over addressing the alleged risks to visitors.
Trump described the park as an island of trash
The court ruling came just hours after Trump criticized the park's condition and questioned the judge on his Truth Social platform.
The president referred to East Potomac as "Trash Island" and claimed that the Department of the Interior would turn it into "the best golf course in the world."
The start of the project
On Oct. 18, Trump had announced that the three golf courses in the park would be transformed into a single 18-hole championship-style course.
During the court hearing held on Friday, Nov. 13, the government's attorney, Adam Gustafson, argued that the decision to close the park was separate from the president's announcement regarding the golf course's renovation.
After the ruling was announced, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice stated that the ruling did not prevent the project from moving forward.
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