A federal judge pushed a Justice Department lawyer to respond to President Donald Trump’s social media posts announcing planned renovations to a community golf course, as a legal fight escalates over the latest administration effort to change Washington’s landmarks.
Testy exchanges between Judge Ana Reyes of the US District Court for the District of Columbia and politically appointed DOJ lawyers played out at a hearing Monday over a legal challenge to Trump’s proposed changes to the East Potomac Park golf course.
Trump has sought to reshape Washington’s historic landmarks in his own image, including by attempting to rename the Kennedy Center for himself and building a massive new White House ballroom using private donations.
Hours before the hearing, Trump wrote in a social media post that Reyes is a “crazed lunatic” and that work on the golf course would start “immediately.”
Reyes, a Joe Biden appointee, questioned Justice Department lawyer Robert Stander on how to square his argument that plans for the golf course aren’t final with Trump’s social media announcement that renovation would start immediately.
Trump also posted on Sunday that Interior Secretary Doug Burgum “has developed a plan to build a World Class Championship Golf Course” and that the park would close Nov. 15.
Stander insisted that the administration is “in the process of planning.” Asked by Reyes if that meant Trump’s post was incorrect, he responded that the president’s post is “true with a caveat, that the plan is not final.”
“Do I believe the president of the United States, or do I believe you?” Reyes asked.
It was one of several tense moments during the hearing, which spanned over seven hours and featured testimony from officials with the Interior Department and National Park Service.
At another point, while the judge was pressing Stander on the Justice Department’s decision to advance different arguments in the case than previously, Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward approached the podium and attempted to take over for his colleague.
“Yell at me, not him,” Woodward said. Reyes wouldn’t allow him to take the podium and asked Stander if she was yelling.
“It’s very difficult for me to answer that question,” Stander responded.
Earlier, Reyes also questioned why no other lawyers had signed onto a recent court filing by Woodward, and asked those present if they’d be willing to put their names on the brief.
Woodward told Reyes this wasn’t an “appropriate ask” and instructed the government lawyers not to answer.
Reyes later withdrew that request for a re-filed brief, but she lamented that a court filing was submitted by one political appointee.
It is the “proper course” when the Justice Department submits court briefs that attorneys who appeared in the case sign them, the judge said. “Because if they don’t, I don’t have confidence in what I’m seeing,” she said.
Read more: Trump DOJ Relies on Politically Appointed Lawyers in Major Cases
At the end of the hearing, Reyes said her mother and brother texted her concerned about reports of death threats she’d received because of her involvement in the case.
“If that is happening, and even if its not — the kind of emails I’ve been receiving, the kind of voicemails that I’ve been getting, that this is where we are, that a federal judge is getting death threats over a golf course, I really don’t think that’s what the founders envisioned,” she said.
Golf Dispute
The dispute stems from a legal challenge, filed in February by a historic preservation organization and two Washington area residents, to potential changes to the course, a public park established in 1897. The lawsuit argues the administration is bypassing environmental and preservation requirements.
The administration has plowed forward, including by cutting down hundreds of trees this month.
Gregory Wischer, Interior Department deputy chief of staff, said the recent tree removals are part of “cleaning up the course” under a 2019 landscaping plan, which he said he first learned about in September. Both he and Jessica Bowron, acting park service director, said they were not aware of plans to start work on the course next month, despite Trump’s announcement.
Reyes has blocked new tree removal through Oct. 26. The judge, who is weighing a request to halt tree removal for longer, said during the hearing that she’s unlikely to prevent the government from conducting any activities in the park, but indicated interest in requiring it to provide notice before conducting future work on the course.
Reyes also said there is “no reasonable inference” that the tree removal this month is because of the seven-year-old landscaping report.
The case is the latest flashpoint between the administration and the federal judiciary.
Reyes on Sunday rejected Woodward’s request to recuse from the golf course case, after he accused the judge of bias toward the government.
Woodward argued Friday that Reyes showed “deep-seated and unequivocal antipathy” toward the administration at a recent hearing, in which she chastised a DOJ attorney for the government’s conduct in the case.
“It is easy to weaponize selective quotations to bring a baseless recusal motion,” Reyes wrote Sunday. “But it is much harder to meet the demanding legal standard against a full record.”
The recusal request came after Reyes tore into a government lawyer during an Oct. 12 hearing for failing to notify her sufficiently in advance before removing over 400 trees from the park over a holiday weekend.
Reyes told DOJ lawyer Marissa Piropato at that remote hearing she was “furious” the government had moved forward with tree removal despite her repeated requests for notice before major changes to the park.
The case is DC Preservation League v. Department of the Interior, D.D.C., No. 1:26-cv-00477, hearing held 10/19/26.