Trump Vows East Potomac Renovation Will Proceed as Administration Appeals Tree Order
Seven Lights
The Trump administration said Tuesday it will appeal a federal judge’s order blocking the removal of trees at East Potomac Golf Links, while President Trump declared the District course will close Nov. 15 for the renovations the lawsuit was filed to stop.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes issued a 70-page preliminary injunction Monday barring the government from removing, pruning or otherwise damaging trees at the federally owned course while a suit by the D.C. Preservation League proceeds, and requiring at least ten business days’ written notice before any action that could impair them. The league argues the government violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to analyze the environmental effects of converting the two public courses into a single private facility that Mr. Trump has promoted as a “World Class Championship Golf Course.”
The confrontation sharpened after the government felled more than 430 trees earlier this month with less than a day’s notice. Reyes wrote that she had been assured the government would not do that. She also faulted the government for arguing that the president’s own public statements about the project should not be credited: “Rarely, if ever, has the United States Department of Justice urged a federal court not to believe the sitting president,” she wrote. “And yet, here we are.”
Reyes, whom the administration asked last month to recuse herself — a request she denied — returned to the line that framed the case. “The Court earlier stated, ‘I am not the Lorax. I do not speak for the trees,’” she wrote. “The Court still does not speak for the trees. It speaks only for the rule of law.” She added that the injunction “simply marks the ball” pending full litigation.
Mr. Trump, in a Truth Social post late Monday, called the ruling “not fair, appropriate, or Constitutional” and said the Interior Department would appeal and that work would begin immediately upon closure. The Hill reported the administration notified the court Tuesday of its intent to appeal. Democracy Forward represents the plaintiff league.
The government’s lawyers had contended the tree removal was unrelated to the renovation plans, a position that collided with the president’s posts. The appeal goes to the federal appeals court in Washington, where the notice requirement is expected to keep the trees standing while the case is heard.