A federal judge grilled Justice Department lawyers for hours in a Washington, D.C., courtroom on Friday over the planned Sunday closure of the East Potomac Golf Links and East Potomac Park, appearing likely to halt the looming closure after previously prohibiting the Trump administration from removing trees from the golf course.
President Donald Trump has touted plans to renovate East Potomac Golf Links and build a “World Class Championship Golf Course,” posting plans last month that would remove the popular public access and paths along the golf course on Hains Point. Trump said the current golf course would close on Nov. 15. U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, questioned the Trump administration’s plans to close the East Potomac Park on Sunday, expressing deep skepticism toward the DOJ lawyers.
DOJ lawyers said during the hearing that East Potomac Park was being closed for safety reasons regarding deterioration to the seawall and noted that the contract with National Links Trust to operate the course terminated effective Sunday. Reyes pushed back on the rationale of closing the park due to seawall damage, noting that the seawall has had documented issues for the past decade and noted that thousands of runners traversed the park last month for the Marine Corps Marathon.
“The question is why we have to shut down all of Hains Point because of the seawall? It certainly wasn’t such a safety hazard that we couldn’t have 30,000 people running around the course, right?” Reyes asked.
“Certainly, if the seawall, as of the night before the Marine Corps Marathon, was in such disrepair that it presented a safety hazard to human life, such that we now have to shut down all of Hains Point and East Potomac Park, certainly [the National Park Service] would not have said, ‘You know what? Marine Corps Marathon people have 30,000 people run around the course.’ Right?” she added.
When Reyes pressed DOJ lawyers on if they had planned to do any work during the closure to the seawall or the golf course, DOJ lawyers said there were no current plans to do any work once the park is closed on Sunday. As the hourslong hearing continued, it appeared increasingly likely Reyes would issue an injunction to halt the closure prior to Sunday despite continued objections from the Trump administration. She did not give a clear indication of when an order would be released.
JUDGE OPENS INQUIRY INTO TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S HANDLING OF EAST POTOMAC GOLF COURSE CASE
Reyes has separately opened an inquiry last month into whether administration officials misled the court and violated professional ethics rules during past proceedings regarding the legal fight over the future of East Potomac Park.
During Friday’s hearing, Reyes appeared deeply skeptical of many of the claims made by DOJ lawyers about the administration’s plans for the golf course, warning them that there would be severe consequences if they mislead her or attempt to destroy any documents related to the golf course renovation.