Judge chastises Justice Department lawyers after hundreds of trees cut down at D.C. golf course

Washington — A federal judge on Monday rebuked the Justice Department after hundreds of trees were cut down at East Potomac Golf Links in Washington, D.C., on Saturday with little notice, telling government lawyers that they have "lost credibility."

"I am at a total loss to understand what has happened here other than, Occam's Razor time, that the government intended to do precisely what it has done," which is delay informing the plaintiffs and the court of impending action so they could put a plan in place to raze hundreds of trees, Reyes told Marissa Piropato, a Justice Department lawyer.

"You did not do your best. You did your absolute worst," Reyes said of the Justice Department's efforts to notify the court and plaintiffs of the planned tree removals.

The judge had repeatedly asked the Justice Department to provide the court with notice if the Interior Department and National Park Service planned to conduct any construction or similar activity at East Potomac, which would allow her the opportunity to review that action and, if warranted, issue a court order.

Government lawyers told the court in a filing just before 5 p.m. on Friday that the National Park Service would start clearing trees from the course on Saturday as part of a "tree management and cultural landscape rehabilitation project." Griess said in a declaration timestamped Friday at 4:37 p.m. that a group of 169 trees would be removed first, followed by a second tranche of 90 trees. He said an estimated 529 trees in all would be felled as part of the project.

They requested an emergency order blocking the National Park Service from removing any more trees after Justice Department lawyers told the preservation group that the tree-removal operation was moving "faster than anticipated," according to court papers. The Trump administration told the D.C. Preservation League that "hundreds of additional trees would be felled imminently," though rain Sunday impacted that plan.

During the hearing, Reyes repeatedly pressed Piropato about when she learned that the National Park Service planned to cut down the trees and why she waited until Friday to inform both the plaintiffs and the court.

The judge also pressed Griess and Lands, who said he was testifying from a vehicle in a parking lot, on who ultimately gave the go-ahead to cut the trees down over the weekend. She called for Gregory Wischer, deputy chief of staff at the Interior Department, to answer questions, but Piropato said she could not get in contact with him.

Griess told the court that his tree-removal plan aims to fulfill recommendations laid out in a 2019 Cultural Landscape Report, which calls for restoring "links style and historic vegetation (rough grasslands, thin trees between fairways, and sentinel deciduous trees)" at East Potomac.

Designed by golf course architect Walter J. Travis, East Potomac opened to the public in the 1920s as a links-style course, which are typically built along the coast, Griess said. Those types of golf courses have few trees and lower vegetation, he said.

Griess said he moved forward with putting together the tree-removal plan after funding and National Park Service employees working on events related to America's 250th birthday were freed up following the Freedom 250 Grand Prix in August.

They argued that the administration's implementation of the plan violates the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires federal agencies to assess the environmental impacts of proposed action. The plaintiffs accused the Trump administration of skirting its obligations under the law by conducting smaller, segmented projects, like the tree-razing.