A federal judge on Monday night indefinitely blocked the Trump administration from removing even a single tree from a public golf course in Washington, D.C. that President Donald Trump intends to immediately transform into a championship-style course. She has ordered the government to provide notice of at least ten business days before any closure or any “irreversible modification” to the East Potomac Park.

U.S. District Ana Reyes granted the request by a coalition of a preservationist group and local golfers to block the Trump administration from razing the course after the government abruptly chopped down hundreds of trees over a recent holiday weekend.

Reyes included one exception in her ruling, allowing the Trump administration to remove any tree or make any modification to an aspect of the park that is an “imminent threat,” as long as they provide both the court and the plaintiffs 24 hours’ notice and submit a sworn declaration from a senior National Parks service employee “attesting to the threat and the need of the taken action to address it.”

In her ruling, Reyes pointed to a dispute from the previous hearing, when — despite President Trump posting on social media that day that plans for the golf course were moving ahead — lawyers for the government denied that there was a final plan.

“At this preliminary posture, the Court finds that the Plan is final,” Reyes wrote, adding, “This is confirmed not just by the President’s and Secretary’s many posts, but also by the Government’s actions, not the least of which is the removal of hundreds of healthy, non-invasive trees on no real notice,” Reyes wrote in the ruling.

Reyes expressed frustration at the repeated disconnect between the government’s arguments in the courtroom and the president’s statements in the court of public opinion.

“Rarely, if ever, has the United States Department of Justice urged a federal court not to believe the sitting President. Not to believe him that a cabinet secretary has “developed” a federal land project. Not to believe him that the secretary’s agency will destroy a historic golf course already on the land. Not to believe him that ‘Restoration work’ will begin ‘IMMEDIATELY!’ Not to believe him that the course ‘will be closed’ for over a year. Not to believe what the President has repeatedly told the American public,” Reyes wrote.

“And yet, here we are.”

On several occasions, Reyes had declined to issue any sort of a ruling in this case, instead choosing to trust the government.

“The Court acts now only because the Government did what it assured all it would not do,” Reyes wrote. “Without meaningful notice to Plaintiffs or the Court, on October 10, it bulldozed hundreds of trees on the Course. It did so even though, as two NPS officials have testified, there was no urgency.”

“This is a big win that will rightly protect East Potomac park from further irreparable harm. We are grateful the court intervened to stop the Trump-Vance administration’s greed and lawlessness while the case continues, and we are eager to argue the case in court,” Democracy Forward CEO and President Skye Perryman, who represents the plaintiffs, said in a statement Monday.

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to MS NOW’s request for comment.

The coalition filed a lawsuit earlier this year amid reports of Trump’s plans to redevelop the course. They had asked Reyes to block the Trump administration from making any changes – including chopping more trees – without giving them and the judge adequate notice. They also asked for the same notice if the government plans to close the course.

Reyes had previously requested the government provide her sufficient notice before cutting down more than ten trees. She held a hearing last week— the second on the matter in a week — to determine why the government had defied her request.

During the marathon hearing, Reyes heard arguments over the plaintiffs’ request to restrict the government’s renovation work, as well as testimony from top Interior Department and National Parks Service officials.

That hearing happened the same morning Trump announced on Truth Social detailed plans to immediately close and completely overhaul the golf course. That announcement created a disconnect in the courtroom, as the government has repeatedly argued that there are no final plans for the renovation.

Both a top Interior Department official and the acting Director of the National Parks Service testified they had no knowledge of firm plans to close the course and begin renovations.

Reyes pressed the Department of Justice lawyers on the president’s announcement.

“So who do I believe, the President of the United States, or do I believe you?” she asked Robert Stander, a lawyer representing the government.

Stander did not directly answer Reyes’ inquiry but had affirmed earlier in the hearing that “the agency’s position is that there is no final plan.”

Throughout the hearing, Reyes demanded answers about the government’s decision to abruptly chop hundreds of trees with little notice after she had explicitly asked the government over the summer to provide sufficient notice if they planned to remove more than 10 trees from the course.

The government has maintained that the tree chopping was part of a 2019 plan to restore the course to its original design. But the plaintiffs pushed back on that claim, arguing that the tree removal is only happening now because of the president’s plans for the golf course.

Reyes was also skeptical about the timing of the tree removal.

Gregory Wischer, a deputy chief of staff at the Department of the Interior, testified that his team has been focused on “cleaning up the course.”

Both Reyes and Abbe Lowell, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, sought answers about how and when the decision to abruptly chop hundreds of trees was made and why the government did not inform either the judge or the plaintiffs about the plan until the night before.

But they never received those answers. Lawyers for the government repeatedly objected, saying those conversations were protected by attorney-client privilege.

“It is my understanding that his testimony will be that he was just going fast and hard on all projects,” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said during the hearing. “His job as the deputy chief of staff is to move those projects along.”

Reyes pushed back on that claim. “There is no universe in which this all just coincidentally happened at the same time,” she said.

That assertion echoed her findings earlier this month when she temporarily blocked the government from felling trees and mandating they give three days’ notice before making any “irreparable modification” to the course. That ruling was designed to remain in effect through Oct. 26.

In that order, she expressed deep frustration with the government for defying her request to keep her informed.

“Breakneck speed to clear trees that posed no harm. The reason? Disputed. The budget? Unclear. The environmental impact? Unstudied. The urgency? None. Next step: bulldoze hundreds more,” she wrote in her ruling.

That temporary order marked the first time Reyes formally blocked the government from taking action regarding the golf course renovation. Since the case was filed earlier this year, she has gone out of her way to resist granting injunctions, instead choosing to trust the government would keep its word.

That trust was apparently broken after the government razed those trees over a holiday weekend. The government notified the court of its plans at 4:55pm on Oct. 9. The next morning — before the court could intervene — they had removed hundreds of trees from the course.

Reyes held an emergency hearing on Columbus Day. In the fiery four-hour hearing, she was livid, yelling at the government for their actions.

“I am just beyond disappointed in the government,” Reyes said. “I have done everything humanly possible to give the government the benefit of the doubt. I have done it for months.”

Trump’s plans for this local golf course – the latest in his series of construction projects – have gained national attention. East Potomac Golf Links was designed with accessibility in mind, to serve both diverse communities and the average golfer.

Many members of the D.C. community attended the hearing last week in support of the legal challenge.

During the hearing, Reyes alluded to the significance of the course to the community, saying this case is not just about a golf course redesign.

“We are talking about a historic golf course,” she said. “A place that has deep meaning to the people of the district, and is protected as a historic land site.”

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A group of Vietnam War veterans asked a federal judge to block construction of President Donald Trump’s 250-foot triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery, writing that the project — which Trump announced last year — still lacks congressional authorization.

“Defendants have barreled ahead, doing site testing, drawing architecture plans, and seeking approvals from commissions populated by friends of the administration,” they wrote. “Yet, throughout this time, Defendants have failed to obtain (or even seek) approval from the one body that, by law, must authorize the project: Congress.”

The request comes one day after the Trump administration filed a notice to the court, saying the National Capital Planning Commission plans to meet to consider for approval the final site and building plans for the arch on Nov. 5. They say construction could “commence immediately” after that meeting if those plans are approved.

The veterans asked U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to rule on their request by Nov. 4.

The case has been ongoing since February, but Chutkan has not yet issued a ruling that would block construction. In September she ordered the government to provide at least 48 hours’ notice before “engaging in any activity” around the site of the arch.

The government had previously agreed to provide at least two weeks’ notice before beginning construction of the arch. Wednesday’s filing complied with that deadline, coming two weeks ahead of the scheduled meeting and possible start date for construction.

The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to MS NOW’s request for comment on the filing.

Thursday’s request to block construction is the latest development in a lawsuit filed in February by three Vietnam War veterans in conjunction with watchdog organization Public Citizen. They have argued the arch would significantly disrupt the historically significant sightline between the Lincoln Memorial and the Arlington National Cemetery.

“Its location on Memorial Circle would situate the monument on an axis between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery, obstructing a line of sight that was designed to represent the unification of the Nation following the Civil War and that has existed for nearly a century,” they wrote in the lawsuit.

The veterans have also argued the project requires congressional authorization.

The Trump administration has argued Congress has already authorized the arch project, pointing to a 1925 plan that called for two tall columns — not an arch — situated near the proposed site for Trump’s arch. That proposal looked very different from Trump’s vision.

Trump unveiled his plans last October for a 250-foot Arc de Triomphe-style monument in honor of the country’s 250th anniversary. The original plans called for a towering triumphal arch that would dwarf the nearby 99-foot Lincoln Memorial and other monuments. The gilded arch would sit on Memorial Circle, a traffic roundabout that sits between Arlington National Cemetery and a bridge over the Potomac that leads to Washington, D.C.

Since that lawsuit was filed, Trump’s plans for the arch have developed. Last month, Trump announced the arch would become a “top grand Military Complex/Triumphal Arch, to house, store, and have the rapid ability to use large numbers of drones, plus Snipers, on both the roof and the plaza areas, and additionally have and hold hold large quantities of sniper ammunition in storage.”

But the final plans submitted to the Interior Department and to the National Capital Planning Commission make no mention of a military complex. There are also no references to a national security purpose.

“The proposed arch would be an approximately 250-foot-tall reinforced concrete structure clad in stone and ornamented by a central figure and two eagles, positioned above each arch leg,” the project synopsis says. “The arch would be 166 feet wide with a 55-foot-wide opening, providing views from the observation deck to area landmarks. The arch would be built from concrete and finished with granite.”

The commission is set to vote on this design in the Nov. 5 meeting and could begin construction immediately, if Chutkan does not intervene on behalf of the veterans.

The veterans’ lawsuit is not the only challenge to Trump’s arch. Earlier this month, the Arlington County Board in Virginia sued to block construction of the arch. That lawsuit alleged the Trump administration was moving too quickly, bypassing the full review process.

“The National Park Service, the agency responsible for projects on national park land such as Memorial Circle, is proceeding full-speed toward ground-disturbing construction,” the lawsuit said. “Although the agency has claimed that a final decision to construct the Arch has not yet been made and purports to be engaged in a routine decisional process, that rushed process appears to be a pretext designed to shore up justifications for building the Arch in accordance with the President’s repeated marching orders.”

That lawsuit also criticized Trump’s national security plans for the arch.

“Using the Arch to store large stockpiles of ammunition and as a staging point for drones and snipers, so close to commuters and tourists, will dramatically worsen these public-safety harms and the risk of accidents,” they wrote in the suit.

The arch, which would sit directly in the flightpath to Washington National Airport, has also drawn concerns from the aviation community. Association of Flight Attendants-CWA President Sara Nelson criticized the arch, warning it poses a dangerous obstruction in an already congested flightpath. That flight path is also still riddled with safety concerns following last year’s fatal crash involving a commercial airplane and military helicopter over the Potomac River.

The architects have proposed adding an eternal flame at the recommendation of the Federal Aviation Association to alleviate some of these concerns.

A judge has not yet ruled on the lawsuit brought by the Arlington County Board.

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