The Trump administration cannot close East Potomac Park to the public for now, a federal judge in Washington ruled Saturday, dealing a blow to the president’s effort to renovate its golf course.
The administration had previously announced plans to close what is effectively the entire area of East Potomac and Hains Point starting Sunday. But U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes wrote that while litigation moves forward, the course, along with surrounding bike and walking paths, must remain open to the public “except for routine, temporary closures consistent with the Course’s historical operating practices, and except as needed to address articulated, imminent threats to public safety.”
Reyes wrote that closing the park would “irreparably harm” the plaintiffs — the Washington, D.C., Preservation League — who regularly use the park.
“It runs counter to the public interest in utilizing national parkland. And the Government has not plausibly identified any harm it would suffer from a temporary restraining order that preserves the status quo pending further proceedings,” Reyes wrote.
Reyes’ order does not require the administration to continue operating the golf course, including features like the concession stand or pro shop, but does specify the administration “cannot use the absence of golf operations as a reason to exclude the public from the Course.”
The administration had argued the park had to close for repairs, including a seawall that needs mending that they argued is an “imminent threat to public safety.” The judge expressed skepticism at the argument, noting the National Park Service’s speed to cut down 400 trees in the area — an action Reyes at the time called “bad faith.”
“If public safety were at risk, NPS would have taken a step—any step—to address the safety issues it knew about. Recall that within just ten days, NPS was able to plan, muster the resources and staff, and execute felling over 400 healthy trees. So NPS was not without ability or resources. And presumably would not prioritize removing healthy trees over the public’s safety,” Reyes wrote.
President Donald Trump referred to the park as “trash island” just hours before the ruling, while criticizing Reyes.
“Trash Island is currently the Worst Golf Course anywhere in the World, but the Department of the Interior is going to make it into the Best Golf Course anywhere in the World,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The ruling came after a contentious day long hearing Friday where a lawyer for the government, Adam Gustafson, said the decision to close the park on Sunday was “distinct” from President Donald Trump’s declaration on social media that the East Potomac golf course would be closing for extensive renovations — on Sunday.
The president’s Oct. 18 announcement on Truth Social that the park’s three link-style golf courses would be transformed into one 18-hole championship style course is “not the same action” as the Interior Department’s decision to shut down a large part of the park that includes the golf course, Gustafson said.
The president has adopted several pet projects during his second term in office in an effort to modify Washington landmarks. He’s faced legal battles for some of them, including the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and a triumphal arch. Work on both has been blocked by judges.
The Supreme Court earlier this year allowed Trump to construct a ballroom on the White House grounds.
A Justice Department spokesperson, responding to Reyes’ ruling, said that the judge’s order would not stop development of a golf course.
“The Court has acknowledged that the National Park Service can limit access to its facilities where the public is at risk of harm. Nothing in the Court’s order precludes planning for the development of a world class golf course to continue. The Department of Justice will always vociferously defend the Trump Administration’s agenda in court,” the spokesperson said.
