Justice Department in Legal Battle Over East Potomac Golf Course Closure

The Department of the Interior is planning to close East Potomac Golf Links in Washington, D.C., by November 15. This decision follows President Trump’s comments that the historic course will temporarily shut down for redesign efforts. These comments were shared on Truth Social, according to senior Justice Department officials.

Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, in a brief filing with the U.S. district court, confirmed Mr. Trump’s statements. He noted that the Interior Department is developing a plan to execute these directives, emphasizing objectives like competitive standards, safety, modernization, and aesthetics. A formal update to the court will follow.

The Trump administration has engaged in an ongoing legal dispute with a local preservation group and two golfers. They challenge the potential redesign of East Potomac, a public course operational since 1920. Though top officials claim there is no finalized redesign proposal, President Trump recently declared a collaborative plan by the Interior Department and golf architect Tom Fazio to transform East Potomac into a world-class championship golf course. This announcement suggested that the current course closure would facilitate the redesign and that the revamped course could debut in approximately 15 months.

These developments follow U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes’s temporary block on removing trees at East Potomac. More than 500 trees were felled over one weekend, a move attributed to the Trump administration’s preliminary plans for the new course. Under pressure from the challengers asserting wrongdoing in the tree removal, Judge Reyes responded with a long-term order prohibiting further tree removal or damage while litigation is ongoing. In her 70-page decision, Judge Reyes pointed out the conflict between presidential announcements and sworn testimonies from government officials.

“Rarely, if ever, has the United States Department of Justice urged a federal court not to believe the sitting President,” Reyes noted.

The Department of Justice has since appealed against Judge Reyes’s decision. A subsequent court hearing, set for either Friday or Monday, aims to determine the case’s handling in the upcoming days. So far, the plaintiffs have not filed any motion to obstruct the course’s planned closure and redesign.