Reyes wrote.<\/a><\/p>\nReyes expressed astonishment that the government has asked her to \u201cnot to believe the sitting President\u201d and disregard Trump\u2019s statements about his plans for the golf course renovations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis started as a case about golf. That good walk spoiled. But it has become much more,\u201d Reyes wrote. \u201cIt now forces the Court to reconcile assertions by President Donald J. Trump with the sworn testimony of multiple government employees and the argument of senior Department of Justice attorneys.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Oct. 18, Trump announced plans on social media to close the golf course for 15 months, starting Nov. 15, and redevelop the 106-year-old park and course despite a court challenge by the D.C. Preservation League and two golfers. A day later, Trump posted that the work would start immediately.<\/p>\n
Reyes, who was nominated to the bench by Democratic President Joe Biden, previously ordered the administration to suspend work on the project until at least Oct. 26.<\/p>\n
Trump was asked about the case late Monday night as he arrived back at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland following a rally in Mississippi and indicated that work on the golf course will proceed as planned.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has the go-ahead. The judge feels that she would like to approve it as it goes along. And I didn\u2019t know she was an architectural critic of golf courses,\u201d Trump said sarcastically.<\/p>\n
He added of the judge: \u201cShe knows nothing about that, so we\u2019ll appeal that\u201d while also calling his planned overhaul a \u201cbeautiful project for Washington, D.C.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump later in a social media post reiterated a statement he made Oct. 18 that the course would close for 15 months. \u201cWe are closing the East Potomac Golf Course Site as scheduled on November 15th in order to renovate and rebuild for Competitive (with other such projects!), Safety, Modernization, and Aesthetic reasons,” he wrote.<\/p>\n
The plaintiffs challenging the project, DC Preservation League and two golfers, claim the work is inflicting irreversible damage. At a hearing, the judge excoriated the government after workers cut down at least 400 trees over a holiday weekend with little notice to the plaintiffs. <\/p>\n
The course renovation project is part of the Republican president\u2019s aggressive campaign to leave his personal imprint on Washington\u2019s historic landscape. Those plans include construction of a huge ballroom at the White House, a massive arch and the creation of a National Garden of American Heroes in West Potomac Park. DC Preservation League is part of a coalition of organizations, including the Cultural Landscape Foundation and one D.C. resident, who have filed lawsuit challenging those plans.<\/p>\n
Reyes rejected the administration\u2019s request for her to recuse herself from the case. The government questioned her impartiality and accused her of engaging in \u201cegregious\u201d behavior from the bench during an emergency hearing in the case.<\/p>\n
In Monday’s ruling Reyes stressed that she had hoped the parties could have resolved their dispute without judicial intervention. She noted that she had denied plaintiffs\u2019 previous requests.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Court would much prefer not to have to resolve Lorax v. Once\u2011ler redux. Indeed, for months, the Court declined to intervene,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n
But she said the government forced her hand by bulldozing hundreds of trees without any notice, doing \u201cwhat it assured all it would not do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reyes quoted from a golf-related opinion written by the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, a conservative icon, in stressing the temporary nature of her own decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cHere, golf and government have again clashed,\u201d Reyes wrote. \u201cBy issuing this preliminary injunction, the Court does not end the round: it simply marks the ball until the parties can fully and fairly litigate this case.<\/p>\n
Democracy Forward President & CEO Skye Perryman, whose organization is co-counsel representing the plaintiffs, called the ruling \u201ca big win that will rightly protect East Potomac Park from further irreparable harm.\u201d She added, in an email, that the move will stop activities \u201cwhile the case continues, and we are eager to argue the case in court.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
An earlier version of this story incorrectly referred to Perryman as \u201che.\u201d This version corrects her identity to \u201cshe.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Associated Press reporters Gary Fields and Will Weissert contributed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
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