Judge extends block on Trump's East Potomac golf course work after at least 400 trees felled

Judge extends the block

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes on Monday, 26 October 2026, issued a preliminary injunction that extends an earlier order and halts tree-cutting and other work at the East Potomac Golf Course in Washington. The order bars the government from removing or damaging other trees, except where work is needed to remove an imminent danger to public safety. It also requires the government to give the court and the plaintiffs at least ten working days of written notice before any irreversible change to the site. Reyes had earlier ordered the administration to suspend work until at least 26 October. Her 70-page opinion, issued the same day, said much of what the court had been told conflicted with Trump's public statements about the course.

How the project unfolded

On 18 October, Trump announced on social media that the course would close for 15 months starting 15 November so it could be redeveloped. A day later he posted that the work would begin immediately. Environmental defenders had raised the alarm on 10 October about the cutting of some 500 trees, a figure Le Temps attributes to them. Court information cited by Mediafax put the number of trees cut at about 430, including mature specimens, while The Independent reported at least 400 cut over a holiday weekend. The New York Times described 400 trees felled in one morning earlier in October. The plaintiffs include the D.C. Preservation League and two golfers, according to The Independent, while the New York Times describes them as two Washington residents and a preservation society.

Mediafax, citing court information (approximately)430

The Independent (at least)400

The New York Times (felled in one morning)400

Mediafax, citing court information (approximately)

430 trees

The Independent (at least)

400 trees

The New York Times (felled in one morning)

400 trees

Data from the article text

Trump's response and the court clash

Trump has vowed to appeal the order and says the administration has an absolute right to carry out the project, according to a post he published online. Mediafax reports that he also attacked Reyes, calling her crazy, and described the case as ridiculous. The Justice Department asked the court not to take the president's statements about starting work immediately into account, according to Reuters as cited by Mediafax. Le Temps reports that government lawyers had argued no final project had been settled despite the president's announcements. The government questioned Reyes's impartiality and accused her of 'egregious' behavior from the bench at an emergency hearing, but she rejected its request that she recuse herself.

What the judge wrote

Reyes criticized the Justice Department for how its lawyers described the planned work to the court, calling the intervention inexcusable. In her written opinion she pointed to the rarity of the request, which she framed as asking a federal court to disbelieve a sitting president.

“Rarely, if ever, has the United States Department of Justice urged a federal court not to believe the sitting President”

She went on to say the department had also asked the court not to believe the president's account that a cabinet secretary had developed a federal land project, and that the agency would destroy the existing golf course. Her opinion closed on the point that, despite this, the case had come to this stage.

The course and the wider plan

Trump has described the course as dilapidated and has said it could eventually host high-profile tournaments, according to Le Temps. Since returning to the White House in January 2025, he has pursued a series of construction and renovation projects in the capital, which he says will restore its splendor. The New York Times lists his efforts around the John F. Kennedy Center, a 250-foot triumphal arch at the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery and a gilded ballroom at the White House as part of the same push. The Independent describes the East Potomac course as a century-old public course in a park that is 106 years old.