Judge opens a misconduct inquiry into what DOJ told her about closing East Potomac

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes opened a formal inquiry on Friday into whether Justice Department and Interior Department lawyers misled her about the Trump administration's plan to close and rebuild East Potomac Golf Links, the public course beside the National Mall.

"The court will open a formal inquiry into whether agency officials and employees, including agency attorneys and DOJ attorneys, have made misrepresentations to the court and otherwise violated ethical rules," Reyes said, according to The Hill. She said she could run the inquiry herself or hand it to a special master.

Bloomberg Law reported that Reyes also ordered the government to preserve all documents and communications about planning for the course. She added that opening the inquiry doesn't mean she has found, or will find, that anyone broke the rules.

Why she opened it

The fight is about when the closure plan existed. On Oct. 18, President Trump posted that Interior "has developed a plan" for a new course on the site and that the current one "will be closed" on Nov. 15 for a renovation of about 15 months. At a hearing the next day, Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, the department's third-ranking official, told Reyes "there is no plan to close the course." On Oct. 28 the department filed a notice confirming the Nov. 15 closure.

Reyes started Friday's three-hour hearing by reading the D.C. Bar's candor rules to Woodward. The sharpest exchange came when he disclosed that a submission on the course design to the National Capital Planning Commission had been in the works for weeks. "Are you kidding me right now? Seriously, Mr. Woodward, come on," Reyes said, per Bloomberg Law, and she ordered the department to name everyone who worked on it.

Woodward said he couldn't say what the president meant in his posts and suggested some of her questions fell under executive privilege. "That is quite an extraordinary view of executive privilege," Reyes replied. She also told the government: "For months the court has trusted but not verified. No longer."

Politico reported that the inquiry will look at whether the administration acted in "bad faith" during the case and whether government attorneys prompted witnesses to leave key information out of sworn statements.

Where the course stands

Reyes has already barred more tree removal while the case goes on, and she requires 10 days' notice before the park closes or changes in a major way. She has not blocked the Nov. 15 closure itself. The administration has appealed her tree-cutting injunction to the D.C. Circuit. The suit was brought by the DC Preservation League and two Washington-area golfers.

The course's operator is already planning for life after East Potomac. Earlier this week National Links Trust signed a 50-year lease for Langston and Rock Creek and gave up East Potomac.

For D.C. golfers the date that matters is still Nov. 15. Unless Reyes or the appeals court acts before then, that's when the government says the course closes.