A Biden-appointed judge embroiled in a fierce dispute with the Trump administration over the removal of hundreds of trees at a federally owned D. C. golf course reversed course during Monday’s nearly seven-hour hearing.
Judge Ana Reyes ended the nearly seven-hour hearing by backing away from her initial demand that Justice Department attorneys arguing the case put their names alongside Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward Jr.’s Sunday filing. Reyes had invoked Rule 11, which requires attorneys to stand behind the factual basis of court filings and can subject them to sanctions for violations.
“Late breaking news,” Reyes said. “I’m going to withdraw request that DOJ refile yesterday’s brief with identification of who signed it. we’ve all got better things to spend our time on.”
The about-face from Reyes, who hours before the hearing was dubbed a “crazed lunatic” by President Donald Trump on Truth Social, is the latest development in a court battle over Trump’s plans to completely renovate East Potomac Golf Links into a “world-class, U.S. Open-caliber course.” The lawsuit, which was first filed in February, reached a boiling point earlier this month when the National Park Service removed roughly 430 trees at the golf course over a weekend. The Interior Department said the tree removals were part of a years-old plan to restore the course’s historic design and were unrelated to Trump’s proposed overhaul.
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Though the action did not violate a court order, it prompted Reyes to impose a temporary restraining order barring further tree removals. She also was described as “screaming” at the administration attorneys during an Oct. 12 hearing.
The hearing prompted Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward to seek Reyes’ removal from the case, accusing her of bias and “open hostility” toward the Trump administration.
Both Woodward and Trump have called for the release of the court’s audio recordings of the hearings.
“The judge on the case is a crazed lunatic whose courthouse tapes will reveal, may be insane? The tapes have been blocked from usage by the judge,” Trump posted Monday hours before the hearing, saying the Trump administration has a “right” to turn the course into a “great, safe, and prestigious” golf course. “Work is scheduled to begin IMMEDIATELY! The finished product will be World Class, and bring income and great prestige back to D.C.”
Trump made two other tweets Sunday saying that Interior Department Secretary Doug Burgum and architect Tom Fazio had “developed a plan” to revamp the East Potomac Golf Links into a “World Class Championship Golf Course” and that work would begin November 15.
The tweets prompted Reyes to give the Justice Department an 8 p.m. filing deadline, saying Trump’s characterization conflicted with a previous filing that stated there was “no agency action” in Trump’s golf course plan.
The filing was signed only by Woodward, which immediately became a point of contention at the start of Monday’s hearing.
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Reyes demanded that the attorneys “raise your hand” if they would sign the briefing, which Woodward said was “not an appropriate request.”
She then invoked Rule 11 and ordered them to the podium to sign the filing.
But Woodward and the attorneys refused. Reyes initially set a 3 p.m. deadline but later extended it until noon Tuesday and offered to allow the attorneys’ names to appear on the brief rather than requiring their signatures. In the end, she abandoned the demand completely.
“For those wondering, a common reason high level DOJ appointees sometimes signs briefs boils down to good leadership,” Abhishek Kambli, a former federal prosecutor, wrote on X. “If there is something that is likely to be contentious with a judge, a DOJ leader signs their name on the brief so that any issues someone has with the brief is directed at them rather than lower level attorneys. Regardless, it goes without saying that a decision such as this should not be something a judge is inquiring into.”
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“DOJ line attorneys increasingly do not sign briefs because of Dem law fare. Dems have and continue to go after the bar licenses of young DOJ line attorneys who are simply executing on behalf of the department,” Rachel Boulvard, vice president of programs at the Conservative Partnership Institute, wrote on X.
Reyes, appointed by President Joe Biden in 2023, previously faced a Justice Department judicial-misconduct complaint over her handling of litigation challenging Trump’s restrictions on transgender individuals serving in the military.
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During a February 2025 hearing, Reyes questioned a Trump administration attorney about what Jesus Christ would say about policies excluding transgender people from homeless shelters.
Then-DOJ Chief of Staff Chad Mizelle accused Reyes of “hostile and egregious misconduct” and potential bias in a formal complaint filed with the D.C. Circuit. The complaint was later dismissed, with the circuit’s chief judge concluding that a recusal motion was the proper avenue for challenging Reyes’ conduct.