A federal judge has temporarily blocked the US administration’s decision to close a historic golf course and its surrounding park in Washington DC, where President Donald Trump planned to carry out major renovations.
Federal Judge Anna Reyes, who has been considering legal opposition to the president’s plans for the East Potomac Golf Links, has decided that Trump cannot close the park and golf course. However, she stressed that the administration is not obliged to continue their active management.
Trump, known as a golf lover, has declared that renovation of the 106-year-old field will turn it into one of the best and most spectacular golf fields anywhere in the world. The BBC has contacted the White House for a comment on the decision.
In October, the president named the current field as the waste rule and announced that it would undergo a 15-month renovation. According to him, the project would create a space that would remain open to the public, but at the same time there would be high standards and could host world-level tours.
Judge Reyes’ decision, published Saturday in a 30-page document, stresses that the administration’s reasons for the proposed closure were only a pretext. She found that the government had violated at least two federal laws to meet an arbitrary timetable.
The government proposes closing down a historic park, which Washington residents of all walks of life use every day, and for an indefinite period, Reyes wrote, it broadcast Telegragraphy.
She added that the closure conflicts with public interest in exploiting spaces that are part of national parks. According to the judge, the administration had not presented any reliable damage that could be caused by a temporary order to preserve the existing situation until judicial procedures continue.
Its order will be in effect until November 28th. The legal clash began in February, when the organization began DC Preservation League) and other parties indicted the administration for the park’s reconstruction plans.
The historic area, located about three miles [3 km] south of the White House, is one of three public golf courses managed by the National Park Service ( NPS in the American capital.
The issue escalated in October, when the NPS began cutting down hundreds of trees without publicly announcing Judge Reyes. It was only informed 15 hours before the work began.
After cutting down the trees, the judge ordered the Trump administration to cease the work until at least October 26th and to announce that three working days before any other permanent change in the park.
Despite the suspension of the works, Trump announced that the area would be closed for 15 months, starting on November 15th, to enable renovations. He also published an illustrative picture of the new project.
In a post on his Social Truth network, the president claimed that the current area was old, damaged and out of office. He also mentioned the weak condition of trees, which he claimed were dangerous and vulnerable to disease as well as the protective wall of the shore, which he said was coming down.
In the meantime, Reyes has launched a separate investigation to determine whether justice department lawyers have presented incorrect information to the court or violated ethical rules.
The investigation includes considering whether the delayed announcement of renovation plans had been made deliberately and in uncertainty, as well as whether lawyers had failed to correct previous incorrect statements or had hidden information.
The judge said this process would be conducted with the help of an independent special expert who would consider the actions of the government’s legal representatives. /Telegraphy/
