Judge Bars Tree Removal at East Potomac Park as Trump Says Work Starts Nov. 15

A federal judge ordered the government Monday to stop cutting trees at East Potomac Park without a court order, while President Trump said the Interior Department would appeal and that golf course construction would still begin Nov. 15 and keep the park closed for 15 months.

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes extended an earlier two-week halt on tree removal. Her ruling also requires the government to give at least ten business days' written notice before closing parts of the park or making any irreversible modification there while the case proceeds.

The dispute intensified after the government cut down 430 trees at the course with less than a day's notice. Two lengthy court hearings followed. Government officials told the court the tree clearing had no connection to the renovations and that no final renovation plan existed. Trump had posted that morning on social media that work would begin immediately.

In her 70-page opinion, Reyes wrote: "Rarely, if ever, has the United States Department of Justice urged a federal court not to believe the sitting president. And yet, here we are."

The case began earlier this year, when the D.C. Preservation League and two local golfers sued to block the renovations. Skye Perryman, president of the nonprofit Democracy Forward, which represents the plaintiffs, said: "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."

Reyes held a seven-hour hearing on Oct. 20, 2026, at which officials from the Interior Department and the National Park Service testified about the tree clearing. She had already denied the administration's request to remove her from the case over claims of bias. In Monday's opinion she wrote that she repeatedly declined to intervene and warned against unannounced changes until "the Government did what it assured all it would not do."

Reyes found that a renovation plan, which plaintiffs call the "Washington National Plan," did exist and was finalized "at some point well before October 15, 2026." She called the government's stated reason for the tree cutting, a 2019 National Park Service report on vegetation, "pretextual." She also wrote that the Interior Department likely violated the National Environmental Protection Act "by impermissibly segmenting its review of the Plan's environmental effects."

In a Truth Social post late Monday, Trump said the Interior Department would appeal and that the project "must begin, immediately, if it is to be completed in a timely and seasonal manner." He also wrote that construction would start Nov. 15 and that the redeveloped course could host events like the PGA Championship and Ryder Cup while remaining "open to the Public, at a reduced rate for those living in Washington, D.C."

The Interior Department did not respond to a request for comment before publication. Reyes is scheduled to continue handling the case as the appeal proceeds.