Justice Department Says Plans for a World-Class Capital Course Go On After Judge Keeps East Potomac Park Open for Now

The Justice Department says planning for a world-class public golf course in the nation's capital will keep moving forward, even after a federal judge on Saturday ordered East Potomac Park to stay open for now, one day before the Trump administration planned to close it for a 15-month overhaul.

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes issued a temporary restraining order before East Potomac Golf Links was due to shut on Sunday, Nov. 15, the Associated Press reported. The order keeps the park open to the public for about two more weeks while the lawsuit over its future continues, The Hill reported.

The order is narrower than many headlines suggest. According to CBS News, it does not require the administration to keep running the golf course, and it does not force the government to take on active management of either the park or the course. Brief closures for imminent threats to public safety are still allowed.

A Justice Department spokesperson said nothing in the judge's order stops planning for the new course from continuing, CBS News reported.

The administration has argued from the start that the closure is about more than golf. In a court filing, the Interior Department said the President had twice directed Interior and the National Park Service to close the park by Nov. 15, and that closing it was needed no matter what the final course design looks like because of significant safety hazards at the site, FOX 5 DC reported. Chief among them is the park's aging sea wall along the Potomac, a rehabilitation the station said is expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

Reyes was not persuaded on the timing. At a hearing Friday, she noted that thousands of runners had just passed through the park during the Marine Corps Marathon and asked why, if the danger was so urgent, the park had not been closed right away, CBS News reported. In her order, she called the Park Service's insistence on a Sunday closure "irrational" and found that the plaintiffs would suffer irreparable harm, the AP reported.

The challenge was brought by the D.C. Preservation League and two Washington-area golfers, who argue that a major remake would violate the 1897 act of Congress that set the park aside for public recreation, the AP reported in October. That month, Reyes extended a block on tree removal after the government cut down about 430 trees with less than a day's notice, and President Trump said his administration would appeal.

The Justice Department has also tried to move the case to a different judge. In October it asked that Reyes be disqualified, pointing to her conduct at a hearing and what it described as a pattern of mistreating government lawyers, the Boston Globe reported. Reyes has not stepped aside, the AP noted.

The restraining order is temporary and is not a ruling on the merits. The preservation group's broader challenge remains before Reyes, and the administration has made clear that its plans to rebuild the course and repair the park are not going away. For now, the park stays open, the sea wall still needs fixing, and the question of who gets to decide how a federal park in the capital is restored is headed for another round in court.