Judge Plans Outside Probe Into Whether Officials Misled Her Over East Potomac Golf Course

US District Judge Ana Reyes intends to appoint Jessie Liu as a special master, an outside official who gathers facts for a court and reports back. Her task would be to examine whether the judge was deliberately misled about changes to the East Potomac golf course in Washington, DC, according to The Guardian.

Liu is a former US attorney for the District of Columbia who served during Donald Trump's first term. Reyes, who was nominated by former President Joe Biden, announced at a hearing on 30 October that she was opening a formal investigation into the government's conduct.

The review would look at whether officials at the Interior Department and the National Park Service, and lawyers at the Justice Department, broke ethics rules or misled the court. One key question is whether federal officials were truthful about cutting down hundreds of trees in early October.

At that 30 October hearing, Reyes questioned Justice Department attorney Stanley Woodward for more than two hours. She pressed him over statements that appeared to contradict each other, Reuters reported.

The case began in February, when the DC Preservation League and two golfers challenged the renovation of the public golf facility. The league's lawsuit page describes debris from the East Wing demolition, including wires, pipes and bricks, that the suit sought to stop being dumped on the site. A later press release says the law firm Lowell & Associates filed the suit to block the planned redevelopment of the historic course.

The timing is what makes this urgent. The Trump administration plans to close the golf course and park on 15 November to build a championship-level course. To hold things in place, Reyes has issued an injunction, a court order that stays in force while the case continues. It temporarily bars the government from removing or damaging any more trees on the course.

The injunction also requires the administration to give 10 days' written notice before making any change that cannot be undone while the lawsuit is active. That gives the court time to act before major work starts.

Both sides have until Friday, 13 November, to respond in writing to Reyes's plan to name Liu. The next court hearing is scheduled for the same day. Two days after that, on 15 November, the closure date arrives.

For golfers who use the course, and for residents who have fought to keep it, the next week will show whether the court's appointment goes ahead and how much of the course is left standing when the work begins.