News
East Potomac: government appeals as judge summons Woodward
The Justice Department is taking the East Potomac injunction to the DC Circuit, but a notice of appeal does not lift it. Until a higher court acts, the government must still give the judge written notice before closing the course.
Judge Ana Reyes has ordered Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward back into her courtroom for a status hearing on Friday 30 October or Monday 2 November. She wants to know whether the government plans to close East Potomac Golf Links on or around 15 November. On Tuesday 27 October, the day of that order, government lawyers lodged an appeal against her injunction with the DC Circuit, the federal appeals court in Washington. Raw Story, which linked the filing, reported that Woodward signed it.
The appeal is against the preliminary injunction Reyes granted on Monday 26 October in the suit the DC Preservation League and two golfers brought against the Interior Department. It stops any further tree removal at the public course in Washington DC and requires advance written notice before it is closed or permanently altered. Filing a notice of appeal does not suspend it, and neither Raw Story nor the AP reported a request for a stay pending appeal.
Reyes ordered the hearing after President Trump wrote on Truth Social that the course would close “as scheduled” on 15 November. At a hearing on 19 October, government lawyers had told her they knew of no plans to close it. Woodward said then that it was “difficult to put my colleague, a non-Senate-confirmed DOJ employee, in a position of contradicting the president”, the Associated Press reported. At the status hearing, Reyes is expected to ask what the government has done to comply with the injunction, according to ABC News.
Sources
- Associated Press via Action News Jax: Who should be believed? Trump’s social media post on golf course leads lawyers back to court
- Raw Story: DOJ races to appeals court as Trump’s golf course overhaul in jeopardy
- ABC News: Judge admonishes Trump administration over plans for Washington, DC, golf course
- The Hill via Yahoo News: DC judge orders new golf course hearing after Trump vows to push ahead with redevelopment
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