A federal judge on Thursday lamented the anger and threats she has faced over the removal of trees as part of President Donald Trump’s controversial effort to turn a public golf course in Washington, DC, into a championship-level one.
But the discussion about the removal of the trees at the East Potomac Golf Course – which dominated a proceeding that ostensibly was about the case schedule – was ultimately resolved with Trump’s opponents accepting the government’s explanation that the trees were chopped down for routine reasons.
US District Judge Ana Reyes noted the irony that this year is America’s 250th birthday and “a president chopping down cherry trees” is a court matter, harkening back to an apocryphal story associated with President George Washington.
“People are pretty upset,” she noted, adding that she has received threats, including from someone who said he would remove her if she didn’t “save the trees.”
“I do not speak for the trees, I am not the Lorax” she said, referencing the famous Dr. Seuss book and character while echoing its cadence of lines, “I am a judge.”
The leadup to Thursday’s hearing involved weeks of concern, anger and speculation among locals and activists over the National Park Service’s removal of trees at the course beginning in late August.
Department of Justice lawyers revealed that about 150 trees – 77 invasive and 77 dead, dying or hazardous trees were cut down. There are around 3,800 trees in the park.
“Trees throughout the park are regularly monitored for potential safety impacts to visitors, and when a tree is determined to be dying, declining or hazardous our arborists may make the decision to remove it,” the Department of Interior told CNN in a statement.
Shortly before the hearing, Trump’s opponents in the case submitted court declarations questioning the suggestions that the removed trees were rotting or a danger to players on the course.
However, during the hearing, the plaintiffs then backed down, saying they didn’t have reason to question the rationale for the tree’s removal.
Thursday’s hearing was scheduled as a status conference for the judge and parties to check in on where the litigation about the course should go next.
The administration has previously sought to dismiss the case. In court filings Wednesday, the Department of Interior pointed to recent rulings from the Supreme Court – siding with the administration in cases concerning the construction of the White House East Wing ballroom and an executive order on mail voting – and argued those rulings meant that the case should be thrown out.
Rather than deciding that request, the legal challengers are being given the okay to amend their earlier lawsuit to take into account those recent legal developments. Reyes indicated she would be willing to decide quickly whatever motion to dismiss the government may file then.
The DC Preservation League and two local golfers are pressing the judge to issue an order that would bar the Trump administration from moving ahead on the plan.
Reyes, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, has previously declined to block the work on the course because she was unconvinced that any laws had been broken.
Over the summer she instructed both sides to come to an agreement for the Trump administration to report on any new golf course activity to the court while initial stages of the litigation play out.
Reyes on Thursday expressed her satisfaction with how the government had kept her apprised, and was unwilling to order the administration to take additional steps to notify the legal challengers where the government was in the planning process for the course.
But she also voiced sympathy for the preservation league’s concerns that the administration could take a drastic action without any heads up that would be irreversible if a judge later found the action illegal.
“What I don’t want is to be here with a fait accompli,” Reyes said.
Trump, an avid golfer, first publicly proposed the idea in May about taking over and expanding the municipal golf course that sits on a 300-acre manmade peninsula just south of the National Mall.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum unveiled a rendering of the planned renovations from Fazio Design, a consultancy owned by the noted golf architect Tom Fazio, who designed Trump’s Bedminster golf course and three other of the president’s properties.
The Links currently offers two nine-hole courses and an 18-hole course.
“Like iconic public courses of Bethpage Black & Torrey Pines, East Potomac will offer locals — of the National Capital Region — championship-quality golf at affordable, highly discounted rates,” Burgum posted on X with a rendering of the Links plans .
Trump, Burgum and Fazio were photographed walking the course together in June, blueprints in hand.
Those plans have not yet been made publicly available, but appeared to have been updated and more expansive, with a nearly complete takeover of the entire peninsula. A playground, recreational area and a 9-hole course often used by more novice players have been jettisoned in favor of a single 18-hole course.
Trump said after the visit that the course was “dilapidated, worn out, and very dangerous and outdated.”
Speaking to Golf.com in June, Fazio said the president’s ambition is to upgrade the links to “literally a national monument,” where a national golf championship could be held.
“The president happens to be a guy of action,” Fazio said. “He wants to get this thing done so people can enjoy it, play it, and not one of these ‘10 years down the road and drag it out forever’ things. He wants to get it done now.”
The aim would be for the course to be ready for play by summer 2028, before Trump leaves office.
The administration has not yet brought plans before the two key federal agencies, the National Capitol Planning Commission (NCPC) and the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (CFA), that review and approve major changes on federal property in Washington.
