{"id":353712,"date":"2026-05-04T22:23:49","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T03:23:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/judge-warns-of-serious-consequences-if-administration-begins-work-at-east-potomac-golf-course"},"modified":"2026-05-04T22:23:54","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T03:23:54","slug":"judge-warns-of-serious-consequences-if-administration-begins-work-at-east-potomac-golf-course","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/judge-warns-of-serious-consequences-if-administration-begins-work-at-east-potomac-golf-course","title":{"rendered":"Choose warns of ‘critical penalties’ if administration begins work at East Potomac Golf Course"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

A federal judge on Monday warned Justice Department lawyers of “serious consequences” if the Trump administration begins major work at a public golf course in the District of Columbia without getting approval and notifying the court in advance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During a tense conference on Monday morning, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes demanded she be updated if work begins at the East Potomac Golf Course, and raised concerns about claims made by the Trump administration<\/a> regarding\u00a0the state of the course.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Let’s just say, given some issues around the district recently, I would have a particular concern that we not ask first and ask forgiveness later, because that’s not going to be acceptable,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Concerns arose in December that the administration may try to take over the course as part of President Donald Trump’s efforts to leave his imprint<\/a> on various D.C. buildings, after the administration terminated the lease of the group that runs the course.<\/p>\n

The dispute over East Potomac Golf Course flared up over the weekend after lawyers for the D.C. Preservation League warned that the property would be “razed” by the Trump administration before anyone could stop it, citing the rapid demolition of the White House’s East Wing<\/a>. In an order late Sunday, Judge Reyes required lawyers to appear for an unusually early Monday morning conference to ensure major work had not begun.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Without emergency preliminary relief, they will continue running roughshod over both East Potomac Park and the law until the golf course and the Park have met the East Wing’s fate,” the plaintiffs\u00a0argued.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During the conference, a DOJ lawyer argued that the work done to the course was limited to identifying dead or dying trees for removal, which appeared to resolve some of Judge Reyes’ concerns. DOJ lawyers said they were unaware of reported fundraising by Trump to renovate the course — though they said such communications would be “very sensitive issues of executive limited privilege” — and Kevin Greiss, the Superintendent of National Mall and Memorial Parks, said he was unaware of any closures.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\"Amy<\/picture><\/div>\n<\/div>
\n
\n

With the Washington Monument in the background, a golfer tees off at East Potomac Golf Course in Washington, May 4, 2026.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Kevin Lamarque\/Reuters<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

“I don’t want anything major to happen without plaintiffs saying ‘Got it’ or someone identifying or talking to me first,” she said. “I don’t want to be the overseer of the Parks and Rec. I mean, I’m no Amy Poehler.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

But as Judge Reyes appeared ready to conclude the hearing, her clerk handed her a note that renewed her concerns.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I just got a note from Clerk I need to look at real quick,” she said. “It looks like there were signs on the golf course yesterday that there were closures. Were there any closures yesterday?”\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Not that I am aware of, ma’am,” responded Kevin Greiss, the Superintendent of National Mall and Memorial Parks. “I didn’t order any signs put up. I can’t attest to those signs or who may have put them up. There’s been no closure order.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

While Greiss checked with his maintenance staff to confirm if the course was open, Judge Reyes warned DOJ lawyers of “serious consequences” if major construction begins without appropriate notice.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I’m going to say this one more time, and I do not want a situation where something has happened and then I’m being told by the government or by a foundation or by a bulldozing company that it’s too late to do anything about it,” she said. “If anything like that happens … there are going to be serious consequences.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\"clerk\"<\/picture><\/div>\n<\/div>
\n
\n

People walk past a sign at the entrance of East Potomac Golf Course, May 3, 2026, in Washington.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Julia Demaree Nikhinson\/AP<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Greiss followed up to say that he checked with his maintenance staff — who said they were unaware of the closures — but were still looking for the signs. The hearing concluded with Judge Reyes ordering that the Trump administration get approval and notify the court before beginning any construction work.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When reached by ABC News, a staff member at East Potomac Golf Course’s pro shop said the course was open for business Monday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Until they shut us down, we are still here,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The National Links Trust, which operates East Potomac Golf Course, said Monday in a statement on X, “While we continue to monitor developments surrounding third-party litigation, East Potomac Golf Links is open for business. We will provide updates as they become available. Thank you to our community for their continued support.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A federal judge on Monday warned Justice Department lawyers of “serious consequences” if the Trump administration begins major work at a public golf course in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":353715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[9169,2234,5201,1913,27820,1426,29979,6762,4914,636,4352],"class_list":["post-353712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-amy-poehler","tag-clerk","tag-doj","tag-federal-government","tag-julia-demaree","tag-justice-division","tag-memorial-parks","tag-nationwide-mall","tag-trump-administration","tag-washington","tag-white-house"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353712"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":353714,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353712\/revisions\/353714"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/353715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}