Judge Halts Trump's East Potomac Golf Course Closure

East Potomac Golf Links stays open. U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes issued a temporary restraining order on Saturday, November 14, 2026, that bars the federal government from closing East Potomac Park and its golf course during the daily hours they were open as of that day. The order runs through November 28, 2026, or until the court rules again, whichever comes first. The course had been set to close on Sunday, November 15, for a 15-month rebuild.

The decision is 30 pages long, and its finding is blunt. Reyes ruled that the administration's stated reasons for closing the park were “pretextual” and that the government violated at least two federal laws “to meet an arbitrary deadline.” She wrote that President Trump directed the closure for one reason: so work could begin on a new Fazio design to replace the current course. “The Government proposes to close a historic park, daily enjoyed by Washingtonians of all stripes, indefinitely,” she wrote.

The order is narrower than a full stop to the project. It doesn't require the government to run golf operations at the site, and it leaves the administration free to make repairs anywhere in the park, with the notice the existing preliminary injunction requires. The Justice Department made that point in its response, saying the court acknowledged the National Park Service can limit access where the public faces a risk of harm, and that nothing in the order stops planning for a new course from continuing. The department said it will “always vociferously defend the Trump Administration's agenda in court.”

The case is DC Preservation League v. Department of the Interior. The preservation group argues that the redevelopment breaks federal regulations and statutes and would change the character of an accessible public course. The park sits along the Potomac River near the Jefferson Memorial, about two miles south of the White House, and it holds three courses totaling 36 holes, a miniature golf course and a paved loop used by cyclists and runners. Plaintiffs in the wider litigation include individual golfers as well as preservationists, and Reyes found the closure would irreparably harm them.

Trump first proposed taking over and expanding the municipal course in May 2026, and he toured the grounds soon after with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and golf designer Tom Fazio, whose firm worked on several of Trump's private courses. Work was first set to begin September 1. In an October 18 social media post, Trump said the closure would last 15 months and turn the park's golf into “one of the Best and Most Spectacular Golf Courses anywhere in the World.” On Saturday he was still promoting the project, posting photos of what he calls “Trash Island” and arguing the fairways sit too close together.

Saturday's ruling isn't the first time Reyes has intervened. In October she blocked tree removal at the course and imposed new notice requirements after more than 400 trees were removed with minimal notice. She said then that she was “beyond disappointed with the government,” and she questioned whether officials had misled her in declarations about the plans and their timing. The Justice Department has tried, unsuccessfully, to remove her from the case.

The restraining order buys two weeks, not a verdict. The park stays open through November 28 on the hours it kept on November 14, the administration can keep planning and repairing, and the underlying fight over environmental review, public notice and who a public course is for goes back in front of the same judge. What Saturday settled is the deadline: the November 15 closure doesn't happen.