Judge Ana Reyes of the U.S. District Court has granted a temporary restraining order against the Trump administration over its plans for the East Potomac Golf Course.
The case, DC Preservation League v. Department of the Interior, was filed in February by the preservation group and two regulars at the East Potomac Golf Course.
The public course on the Potomac River is the site Donald Trump wants rebuilt as “one of the Greatest Golf Courses anywhere in the World.”
The plaintiffs argue that the administration’s plan to “replace the existing Golf Course with an elite championship-style course” violates the Administrative Procedure Act.
The administration refers to its ambitious redevelopment vision as the Washington National Plan, which has drawn fierce opposition from preservation advocates.
For months, Judge Reyes took an unusually deferential stance toward the government, repeatedly declining to enter an injunction while extending the benefit of the doubt.
She had stated clearly that she had no interest in becoming the “overseer of Parks and Rec,” signalling her reluctance to intervene in executive branch decision-making.
The judge trusted the government’s lawyers to notify her before any irreversible actions were taken at the site, a standard expectation in proceedings of this nature.
That trust appears to have been misplaced, according to a 21-page memorandum opinion Reyes issued, which details what occurred during the period she extended goodwill to the administration.
The opinion, which granted the temporary restraining order, makes plain that the administration’s conduct on the ground did not match the assurances offered in the courtroom.
Reyes’ ruling represents a striking shift in tone from a judge who had gone out of her way to avoid placing constraints on the government throughout months of hearings.
The DC Preservation League and the individual plaintiffs who regularly use the East Potomac Golf Course had argued throughout the proceedings that urgent intervention was necessary.
The case highlights a broader pattern of tension between federal judges and the Trump administration over the pace and transparency of executive action on sensitive public land projects.
East Potomac Golf Course is a publicly accessible facility, making the redevelopment plans particularly contentious among residents and recreational users in the Washington area.
The temporary restraining order now places formal legal limits on what the administration can do at the site while the litigation continues to move through the courts.