Who Gets to Decide
A federal judge told the U.S. government Monday not to cut down more than 10 trees without first providing notice amid a legal dispute at a historic Washington golf course that President Donald Trump plans to renovate. The order came during a remote hearing in a fight over East Potomac Park, where the Trump administration’s reconstruction plans have collided with a preservation complaint and the usual machinery of government deciding what gets torn up first.
U.S. District Court Judge Ana Reyes said during the hearing that she was not going to issue a temporary restraining order just yet in the case brought by the DC Preservation League. But she also told the National Park Service that if it was going to cut down more than 10 trees, it should first discuss any plans with government lawyers. In other words, the apparatus can proceed, but only after the paperwork catches up.
What People at the Bottom Said
Monday’s hearing came after the plaintiff’s emergency petition seeking to stop work at the course, citing news reports that major renovations were to begin Monday. Kevin Griess, the superintendent of the National Mall and Memorial Parks for the Park Service, said during the hearing there was no plan to begin such work Monday but added that a safety assessment was underway. The people closest to the ground were left reacting to reports, notices, and assessments while the institutions in charge kept the schedule and the language.
Reyes told the parties she didn’t want to play the role of the “Parks and Rec” department, an allusion to the sitcom, but said she also didn’t want trees being bulldozed. “I’m no Amy Poehler,” she said referring to the show’s star. The line landed like a small joke inside a larger dispute over who gets to reshape public land and who gets to object after the fact.
At one point during Monday’s hearing, the judge said she was made aware that closure signs had been put up at the site, which led to Griess asking someone to check. He later reported that there were no such signs. Reyes asked that if any such signs were found that the government’s attorney be told. Even the signs became part of the chain of command: seen, checked, reported, and routed upward.
The Park Was Supposed to Be for the People
The complaint filed against the Department of the Interior argues that the Trump administration’s reconstruction of East Potomac Park, including the East Potomac Golf Course, would violate the congressional act that created the park in 1897. The roughly 130-year-old act established the park for the “recreation and the pleasure of the people.” The course itself opened in 1919.
That language sits in sharp contrast to the current dispute, where a historic public space is being managed through legal filings, government lawyers, and renovation plans tied to presidential preference. The complaint says the reconstruction would violate the act that created the park, but the immediate facts on the ground remain the same: a federal judge is telling the government not to cut too many trees without notice, while the Park Service says no work was set to begin Monday and a safety assessment was underway.
Trump, an avid golfer, also plans on renovating a military golf course just outside of Washington that has been used by past presidents going back decades. The pattern is familiar enough: land, institutions, and public space arranged around the needs of power, with ordinary people left to watch the process unfold through hearings and petitions.
What the Record Shows
The hearing took place on Monday, May 4, 2026, the same day the dispute over tree cutting and renovation was being argued remotely. The judge did not issue a temporary restraining order, but she did set a limit on tree cutting without notice and told the Park Service to consult government lawyers first if more than 10 trees were to be cut down.
The DC Preservation League filed the emergency petition after news reports said major renovations were to begin Monday. Kevin Griess said there was no plan to begin such work Monday, though a safety assessment was underway. Reyes also said she did not want to be the “Parks and Rec” department, but she did not want trees bulldozed either. The government, meanwhile, remains in the position of deciding what happens next at a park created in 1897 for the “recreation and the pleasure of the people.”