The Trump administration argued in a new filing Sunday night that any plans for the large-scale construction project at D.C.’s East Potomac Park are not final and should not be subject to judicial review, hours after President Donald Trump announced a Nov. 15 start date for his much-discussed proposal to build a “world championship” golf facility.
Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. also said that any communications with Trump about the plans for the course should be protected under executive privilege.
“Defendants maintain that there is no final agency action here,” Woodward wrote in the filing submitted to U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia — adding that the “Park Service has not completed its review and the details of the proposal are subject to change during the review process.”
Woodward asserted that any redesign of the park is not a reviewable action under the Administrative Procedure Act, which generally allows for the courts to adjudicate challenges to certain final agency decisions.
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“The APA instead applies to legal action such as a ‘rule’ that imposes an ‘actual legal effect’ on the rights or obligations of ‘regulated parties,’” Woodward wrote. “An agency’s redesign of its facilities does not qualify. Just as a decision to redesign all the art exhibits in a Smithsonian Museum would not be agency action, neither would a decision to redesign a golf course, or to trim trees, replace fences, expand the fairways, or mow the lawn.”
The new filing came in response to U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes’ demand for answers about the timeline and official plans for the redevelopment project after Trump announced on Truth Social that construction would break ground in November and end sometime in early 2028 — despite the ongoing lawsuit aimed at halting the overhaul.
Late Sunday, Reyes denied the government’s motion that she recuse herself.
“It is easy to weaponize selective quotations to bring a baseless recusal motion,” Reyes wrote in a 13-page order. “But it is much harder to meet the demanding legal standard against a full record. By any objective measure, the Government fails to meet the standard for recusal. And the Court does not, on its review, conclude it is mandatory.”
Earlier, the judge had ordered the Trump administration to submit a response clarifying whether the construction will officially move forward and directed the Trump administration’s lawyers to appear in person Monday for a previously scheduled hearing.
Reyes demanded that the government notify the court “whether it continues to take the position that it took in its October 16, 2026, filing, that, ‘there is no final agency action’ and that ‘at most the President has given preliminary thought to’ the plan to rebuild East Potomac Golf Course.”
Woodward responded that Reyes had mischaracterized the government’s knowledge of Trump’s plans for the course and had instead presented an argument in the case given the president’s public statements.
“Defendants further maintain that any direct communication with the President would be protected by many constitutional-based privileges,” Woodward wrote.
Attorneys for the D.C. Preservation League and local residents who sued the Interior Department and the National Park Service in February, noted in a court filing earlier Sunday that Trump’s announcement “comes almost one year to the day since Defendants began dumping contaminated ‘fill’ material at East Potomac Golf Course.”
After a particularly tense hearing Tuesday, Reyes ordered a halt to tree-cutting at the golf course through Oct. 26 and called for Interior Department officials to explain why the administration moved forward with sawing down hundreds of trees on the course without notice to the court.
On Friday night, Justice Department lawyers argued in a court filing that Reyes be removed from the case because she has shown “open hostility” toward the government.
The president’s announcement on Sunday morning threw a wrench in the monthslong tumultuous legal battle over the extensive proposed renovation project.
The finished course will be open to the public, equipped to host high-level golf tournaments including the U.S. Open and have a “tremendously positive economic development impact” on D.C., creating “many jobs,” the president wrote on Truth Social. The post did not include any mention of costs.
The redevelopment of the course is spearheaded by golf course architect Tom Fazio and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. Trump accompanied his post with a rendering of an 18-hole golf course that covers the length of East Potomac, including the Hains Point recreational area.
The proposed redevelopment is also facing public opposition outside of the court system from D.C. residents who have long enjoyed the island park in southwest D.C. for its accessible golfing, tennis courts, playground, cycling and abundant green space.
“The recreation landscape [will be] so horrifically changed. If you think of all of the rides and races that happen in D.C. — from the D.C. bike ride, to the Army 10 miler to the Marine Corps marathon,” said Elizabeth Kiker, the executive director of Washington Area Bicycle Association. “There’s no room for biking, bird-watching, running, for all of the public uses that Hain’s point has had for 100 years.”
Trump sees the park differently.
“The current course is old, broken, dilapidated, and of no further use or effect,” he wrote on Sunday. “It is in very poor condition, with falling, dangerous and disease infested trees and importantly, a collapsing and hazardous seawall.”
The National Park Service did not respond to a request for comment.
This story has been updated with new information.
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