Donald Trump has told a federal judge, in effect, that she has no business telling him what to do with a golf course.
East Potomac Golf Links, the century-old municipal facility on the Potomac in Washington, is scheduled to close on Sunday, November 15, for a championship-length rebuild designed by Tom Fazio. U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes issued a 70-page preliminary injunction on October 26 blocking key parts of the plan.
“We believe this Project is totally ‘as of right,’ and that the judge does not have the Constitutional Right to ‘ask for or receive notices,’” Trump wrote on Truth Social, calling the ruling “unconstitutional”.
He said the administration would appeal and that the course would close on schedule regardless.
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Reyes, the DOJ and the sitting president
Reyes, a Joe Biden appointee, ordered the Justice Department to give 10 business days’ written notice before any “irreparable modification” to the park while the case continues. More than 400 trees had already been cleared with minimal warning.
The 70-page opinion was sharp. “Rarely, if ever, has the United States Department of Justice urged a federal court not to believe the sitting President,” Reyes wrote, in a ruling that also found the administration had likely violated the National Environmental Policy Act.
“And yet, here we are.”
The next day, Trump took to Truth Social and called the course “extremely dangerous to play,” claiming that “narrow and nondescript fairways are far too close together, leading to a constant barrage of people being hit with wayward shots,” according to Golf.com.
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In the same post he vowed the course would “close as scheduled on November 15th in order to renovate and rebuild for Competitive (with other such projects!), Safety, Modernization, and Aesthetic reasons.”
Jessie Liu takes over the DOJ inquiry
On Saturday, November 7, Reyes formally appointed Jessie K. Liu, the former U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia and a onetime Trump nominee for associate attorney general, as a special master to investigate whether Interior Department officials and Justice Department lawyers misled the court or violated ethics rules.
Liu’s remit covers the tree removals and the government’s past statements about the project, after Reyes flagged a disparity between an October 18 Justice Department filing, which said plans were not finalised, and Trump’s own announcement days later that the course would close.
The administration and the plaintiffs have until the end of the week to file objections to the appointment.
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A course desegregated in 1941
East Potomac is not just another municipal track. Opened in 1920 under the National Park Service, it was the site of a June 1941 protest when three Black golfers, Asa Williams, George Williams and Ceil R. Showell, walked on to challenge the segregation of public recreation in the nation’s capital.
Interior Secretary Harold Ickes desegregated the course and its miniature golf links in response, among the first such moves of the Jim Crow era.
Fazio’s design would fold the current Blue, White and Red layouts, totalling 36 holes, into a single 18-hole championship course. Ohio Drive, a historic cherry tree grove and a miniature golf course would all be removed. The administration says the site will be shut for 15 months during the work and plans to present the project to the National Capital Planning Commission on December 3.
The nonprofit that walked away
The National Links Trust, the nonprofit that has operated Washington’s three municipal courses, confirmed its role at East Potomac will end on or before November 15. On October 28, it signed a new 50-year lease with the Interior Department and the National Park Service covering Rock Creek Park Golf and Langston Golf Course only.
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The lawsuit itself was filed in February by the DC Preservation League and two District golfers. On November 5, opponents returned to Reyes’ courtroom asking her to go further and block the closure itself.
Raskin lines up the Judiciary gavel
The politics shifted on November 4, when Democrats captured majorities in both the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.
Jamie Raskin, the Maryland congressman who served as lead House impeachment manager in Trump’s second impeachment in 2021, is in line to chair the House Judiciary Committee when the new Congress is sworn in.
Raskin has already been pursuing the East Potomac file. In July he wrote to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and acting National Park Service director Jessica Bowron demanding more information about the plans. With gavels in hand in January, Democrats intend to use subpoena power and control of federal spending to probe the project, and Liu’s findings as special master are expected to feed those hearings.
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Objections to Liu’s appointment as special master are due by the end of the week, and the administration is scheduled to present the Fazio redesign to the National Capital Planning Commission on December 3.
