{"id":6106,"date":"2026-07-03T04:07:51","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T04:07:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6106"},"modified":"2026-07-03T04:07:51","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T04:07:51","slug":"judge-presses-trump-administration-on-plans-for-east-potomac-golf-course","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6106","title":{"rendered":"Judge presses Trump administration on plans for East Potomac golf course"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
President Donald Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, center left, tour East Potomac Golf Links on Sunday. (Mark Schiefelbein\/AP)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

A federal judge pressed the Trump administration Thursday for more details on its proposed renovation of East Potomac Golf Links, a century-old waterfront course that is the subject of a lawsuit that seeks to halt the overhaul.<\/p>

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\u201cI don\u2019t want a destroyed East Wing, I don\u2019t want a destroyed Reflecting Pool, or whatever, before [the plaintiffs] are able to come back to me and ask for relief,\u201d U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes told the administration\u2019s attorneys at a hearing.<\/p>\n

Two Washington-area golfers and a nonprofit organization, the DC Preservation League, alleged in the lawsuit that the Trump administration is bypassing environmental and historic preservation laws in a rush to renovate the course, which was built on reclaimed land along the Potomac River and has sweeping views of the capital monuments on the National Mall.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump, an avid golfer, and his allies argue that the East Potomac course is worn down after years of neglect. The president toured the golf course this week with the golf course architect Tom Fazio, carrying what appeared to be detailed \u2014 and extensive \u2014 redevelopment plans<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The plans, visible in photographs taken during Trump\u2019s visit, seem to stretch the redesigned golf course across nearly the entire East Potomac peninsula, extending play to the shoreline.<\/p>\n

Reyes sought further information from government attorney Michael Robertson about the project\u2019s timeline, plans and environmental impact.<\/p>\n

She gave particular scrutiny to the Sept. 1 deadline to begin work that Trump announced on social media. Reyes asked Robertson three different times whether Interior Secretary Doug Burgum directed his staff to begin work to meet the deadline after Trump\u2019s visit.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo is there a deadline, a date somewhere on paper, in the ether, wherever, where someone has been instructed to start something on September 1st?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

Robertson responded that he was unaware of any date other than what the president had said. Shortly afterward, he said the administration had not yet finalized whether to renovate the golf course despite Trump saying the plan is moving forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t live in Schr\u00f6dinger\u2019s golf course,\u201d Reyes fired back. \u201cThe cat is alive or the cat is dead, unless you believe in multiple universes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reyes indicated that, while she is unlikely to grant the government\u2019s motion to dismiss the lawsuit, the plaintiffs face an uphill battle to persuade her to enjoin the government from proceeding.<\/p>\n

Reyes requested that the two parties\u2019 attorneys reach an agreement through which significant planned action will be conveyed beforehand, though Robertson said that the government did not have a legal obligation to do so.<\/p>\n

Will Bardwell, a lawyer for the legal advocacy nonprofit Democracy Forward, urged Reyes to issue an injunction <\/b>preventing the Trump administration from moving ahead with the renovation. He cited debris dumped on the side from the White House East Wing renovation, saying that significant asbestos and arsenic content could harm the local ecosystem.<\/p>\n

Reyes said she was reluctant to intervene at this stage. Although Bardwell suggested that the administration might move forward without the required permitting and environmental reviews, she said that no laws had yet been clearly broken.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to file an injunction,\u201d said Reyes, adding that she was seeking to avoid contempt proceedings. \u201cAnd I\u2019m not there yet.\u201d<\/p>

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Last year, the Interior Department terminated the lease of National Links Trust, a nonprofit organization that previously managed the East Potomac property and two other local courses.<\/p>\n

That decision <\/b>effectively cleared the way for the administration to take control of the properties, which sit on federal land managed by the National Park Service, and stoked fears among area golfers that Trump\u2019s ambitions could convert low-cost entry points to the game into something more expensive.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, as evidenced by multiple government reports, East Potomac Park and East Potomac Golf Course are in a state of deterioration and in need of significant maintenance, rehabilitation, and reconstruction,\u201d government lawyers said in a legal brief asking Reyes to dismiss the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

They argued that the two golfers and the nonprofit who filed the lawsuit were \u201cchallenging an idea\u201d that was still in its planning stages and attempting to become \u201cgolf-course-architect-in-chief of this still-developing project.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the hearing, Robertson said there had not yet been a \u201cfinal agency action\u201d under the Administrative Procedure Act \u2014 a required step for judicial review. Yet Reyes cited Trump\u2019s posts on social media as evidence that a decision may have been made.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a golf course at East Potomac Park before government deliberations began, and there will still be a golf course at East Potomac Park after the project is planned, and, if approved, implemented,\u201d the Justice Department attorneys wrote.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit alleges possible violations of the National Environmental Policy Act, the National Historic Preservation Act and the Administrative Procedure Act, along with the 1897 congressional act that created the park and called for it to be \u201cforever held and used as a park for the recreation and pleasure of the people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAll Plaintiffs want is for Defendants not to destroy a federal parkland \u2014 or, at the very least, not to do it before studying that plan\u2019s environmental and historic consequences,\u201d attorneys for the golfers and nonprofit said in a brief.<\/p>\n

The plans that were visible during Trump\u2019s visit do not appear to show several of the park\u2019s best-known public amenities, including Washington\u2019s oldest grove of cherry trees.<\/p>\n

Reyes asked Robertson about the pictures, which she described as \u201cvery detailed\u201d and potentially at odds with his assertions that the administration had no blueprints, plans or conceptual designs prepared for the renovated course. He responded by referring to them as \u201crenderings.\u201d<\/p>\n

If built as shown, the redesign would reduce East Potomac from its current three-course, 36-hole layout to a single 18-hole championship course. It would also expand the golf terrain into roughly 50 acres of parkland now used for picnicking, fishing, cycling and other recreation.<\/p>\n

The bicycle trail that circles East Potomac Park is not readily identifiable in the drawings. Nor is the East Potomac Miniature Golf Course, which has operated on the site for decades and underwent a $1 million-plus renovation in 2024.<\/p>\n

Fazio, the architect, has said he intends to preserve the cherry trees, telling Golf.com that Trump has repeatedly emphasized protecting them during planning discussions. The trees, planted in 1910, sit on the White Course, an area that would be razed and incorporated into a practice facility, according to plans.<\/p>

Read more Jacob Misiorowski\u2019s starting schedule with Brewers makes him unlikely to pitch in All-Star Game<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes asked the government\u2019s lawyers about plans that were visible in photographs taken during a visit by President Donald Trump to the site.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6104,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nJudge presses Trump administration on plans for East Potomac golf course - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6106\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Judge presses Trump administration on plans for East Potomac golf course - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"U.S. District Judge Ana C. 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