Trump Golf Course Lawsuit: East Wing Debris and Reyes Rulings

The lawsuit over East Potomac Golf Course is a federal case filed in February 2026 by the DC Preservation League and two local golfers, who allege the Trump administration is illegally converting the century-old public course on Hains Point into a championship tournament venue and used the site as a dumping ground for potentially contaminated debris from the White House East Wing demolition. The suit claims the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service bypassed environmental and historic preservation reviews required by federal law. As of mid-2026, the course remains open, and a federal judge has warned the administration of “serious consequences” if it begins major work without court approval.

Who Filed the Case and What It Alleges

The DC Preservation League, joined by D.C.-area golfers Dave Roberts and Alex Dickson, sued the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service on February 13, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The case is DC Preservation League v. Department of the Interior, No. 1:26-cv-00477. The plaintiffs are represented by Democracy Forward, Lowell & Associates, and the Democracy Defenders Fund.¹²

p>The complaint invokes four federal statutes:

The National Environmental Policy Act, alleging the administration skipped the environmental impact assessments required before a major federal project.
The National Historic Preservation Act, particularly Section 106, which requires review of a project’s effect on historic resources before work begins. The course is a contributing site within the East and West Potomac Parks Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1973.³
The National Park Service Organic Act, the agency’s governing statute.⁴
The Administrative Procedure Act, on the theory that the alleged failures amount to arbitrary agency action subject to judicial review.⁴

A separate argument reaches back to the park’s founding. Congress designated the land in 1897 to be “forever held and used as a park for the recreation and pleasure of the people.”⁵ The plaintiffs contend the conversion plan violates that mandate.²

What the Administration Wants to Build

The redevelopment concept began on August 1, 2025, when Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Solicitor William Doffermyre pitched President Trump on converting East Potomac into a professional tournament venue to be named “Washington National Golf Course.” Architect Tom Fazio, described as the President’s choice for the project, toured the course and visited the White House in November 2025.⁶

Under the Fazio design, the 18-hole course would be rebuilt to stretch to 7,660 yards from the back tees, aimed at hosting major championships and potentially a Ryder Cup. The existing double-decker driving range would be replaced by a 400-yard range facing the Washington Monument, and the par-3 course would give way to a new nine-hole short course. The historic miniature golf course would stay. The existing clubhouse would be refurbished, and a “caddie academy” overseen by the Evans Scholars Foundation was also part of the proposal.⁷⁸ Construction was tentatively scheduled to begin in the summer of 2026, with grassing the following summer and a target opening of spring 2028.

Burgum said the redesigned course would offer “championship-quality golf at affordable, highly discounted rates” for local players, and Fazio indicated those rates would be subsidized.⁷ Critics argued that a course built for professional tournaments would drive up maintenance costs and price out recreational golfers.⁸ The plaintiffs argue that replacing the existing field house with what they call a “palatial clubhouse” and reconfiguring the layout would “destroy East Potomac Golf Course’s historic design.”⁹

The East Wing Debris and Contamination Claims

Beginning in late October 2025, trucks began hauling excavated material from the demolition of the White House East Wing about a mile and a quarter to East Potomac Golf Course.¹⁰¹¹¹²⁹

The administration labeled the material “clean fill.” Testing tells a different story, according to the plaintiffs. An engineering report by Jacobs Engineering Group, based on samples collected between late October and mid-November 2025, found lead, arsenic, and benzo(a)pyrene at levels exceeding various health benchmarks. Lead readings ranged from 14 mg/kg up to an estimated 400 mg/kg in one sample, which was twice the acceptable daily exposure limit for a child (200 mg/kg). All but one of 14 arsenic samples registered at or above 2.7 mg/kg, well above the 0.68 mg/kg carcinogenic threshold cited in the filings. Benzo(a)pyrene, a known carcinogen, was found at levels up to 1,400 micrograms per kilogram, far above the cited carcinogenic limit of 110 micrograms per kilogram.⁹

Soil data published by the National Park Service also confirmed the presence of lead, chromium, and other toxic metals at levels “above laboratory reporting limits.”¹¹ The plaintiffs raised concerns about the testing protocol itself: Jacobs Engineering did not prepare a technical memorandum on its methods until October 24, 2025, and baseline samples were not collected until about a week after dumping had already started. Initial screening relied on handheld “sniffer” devices, which the plaintiffs argued were inadequate for detecting heavy metals or odorless contaminants.⁹

An Interior Department spokesperson said the soil was “tested multiple times by multiple parties” and that the project “passed all standards set by law.”¹² Fazio said the material would be used for bunker and green construction but acknowledged it was insufficient to address the site’s flooding issues.⁷

The National Links Trust Lease Termination

The redesign was preceded by the administration ending the existing management arrangement. In 2020, the National Park Service awarded a 50-year lease to the National Links Trust (NLT), a nonprofit, to operate and refurbish three D.C. municipal courses: East Potomac, Langston, and Rock Creek.¹³ Under the lease, NLT could offset rent payments with approved capital improvement projects.

On December 30, 2025, the Department of the Interior issued a termination notice, claiming NLT had defaulted by failing to pay millions of dollars in rent and to produce a satisfactory plan to cure the default. NLT “fundamentally disagreed” with that characterization, saying it had invested over $8.5 million in capital improvements across the three courses during its five-year tenure, an amount it argued exceeded what it owed in rent.¹⁴

Several senators from the D.C. area challenged the termination, arguing that the Park Service failed to follow the lease’s own “notice and cure” provisions. Section 17.1 of the lease required NPS to issue a written notice identifying specific violations and to give at least 45 calendar days to fix non-monetary defaults. The senators argued that an October 29, 2025, default notice lacked sufficient detail and that the mandatory cure period was never honored.¹³ NLT said it was “devastated” but “stubbornly hopeful” about finding a resolution, and as of early 2026 had not filed its own lawsuit, though it reserved its legal options.¹⁴

Judge Reyes’s May 2026 Rulings

The case escalated in early May 2026. On May 3, reports surfaced that the administration planned to close the course that day and begin construction, including tree-clearing, on May 4. The plaintiffs filed an emergency motion for a stay.¹⁵

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes held a conference on May 4, 2026. She declined to grant the emergency stay, finding it “too early” for that level of relief, but imposed conditions that put the administration on a short leash.¹⁶ The judge ordered the administration to provide reasonable notice before closing the golf course, bringing in construction equipment, or cutting down more than 10 trees. Any major project would require “proper approval” before proceeding.¹⁷

Reyes made clear she was not interested in being presented with a fait accompli. “Let’s just say, given some issues around the District recently, I would have a particular concern that we not act first and ask forgiveness later,” she told DOJ attorneys. “Because that’s not going to be acceptable and I want you to make sure that that’s fully communicated to the agency. If anything like that happens, there are going to be serious consequences.”¹⁸ The reference to “issues around the District recently” appeared to nod toward the East Wing demolition itself, which a separate court had found was carried out “without advance notice or apparent approval.”⁹

DOJ lawyers told the court that current activities at the site were limited to identifying dead or dying trees for removal, and NPS Superintendent Kevin Griess testified he had not ordered any closure of the course.¹⁹ The government did not concede that a closure was off the table, stating in a filing that closing the course “is within my authority” and, if exercised, “will be appropriately documented.”¹⁸

The Fundraising Brochure Evidence

A central piece of evidence in the litigation is a fundraising brochure from the National Garden of American Heroes Foundation, a D.C.-based nonprofit established in 2026. The brochure describes the East Potomac project as a “Championship Golf Course” and pairs it with the development of a sculpture garden in West Potomac Park as the foundation’s two “founding projects.”²⁰

Fundraising for the foundation is led by Meredith O’Rourke, who served as President Trump’s national finance director during the 2024 campaign. She had previously overseen fundraising for the East Wing ballroom project and was appointed by Trump to the board of the National Park Foundation.²¹ The foundation was still awaiting tax-exempt status as of May 2026.

The brochure became a focal point at the May 4 hearing. Judge Reyes remarked that its existence suggested the project was “pretty far down the road” and directed the Justice Department to gather internal communications to identify who authorized the fundraising pledge.²¹ The plaintiffs pointed to the brochure as evidence that the administration’s April 30, 2026, court filing, in which the government claimed “no formal decision has been made regarding the nature and scope of any renovations,” was misleading.²²

Why the Course’s History Matters to the Case

The historic preservation claims turn on documented significance. The course was designed by architect Walter J. Travis and opened in 1917. It is a contributing site within the East and West Potomac Parks Historic District, listed on the National Register since 1973.³

The site also holds significance in civil rights history. In 1941, Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes desegregated the course, which had been a whites-only facility, following action by Asa Williams, George Williams, and Cecil R. Shamwell.²³ A 2017 Cultural Landscape Inventory by the National Park Service proposed recognizing the golf course as individually eligible for the National Register under Criterion A in the areas of Recreation and Ethnic (Black) Heritage, with a recommended period of significance of 1917 to 1941. The D.C. Historic Preservation Officer concurred with those findings.³ Those designations are what triggers the Section 106 review the plaintiffs say was skipped.

Where the Case Stands

As of mid-2026, East Potomac Golf Course remains open for play. The case is active in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, with Judge Reyes overseeing it. The administration has not abandoned its renovation ambitions, and the plaintiffs continue to seek a fuller injunction blocking major work. President Trump has indicated he eventually intends to take over the two other D.C. public courses as well.²⁴ The gap between the government’s official position, that no formal decision on renovations has been made, and the fundraising apparatus and design plans already in motion remains the central tension in the litigation.

1
DC Preservation League. East Potomac Links Lawsuit
2
Michigan Lawyers Weekly. Golfers Sue Trump Administration Over Public Course Takeover in D.C.
3
University of Pennsylvania / National Park Service. East Potomac Park Golf Course Cultural Landscape Inventory
4
Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse. League v. Department of Interior
5
The Cultural Landscape Foundation. Washington, D.C.’s Historic East Potomac Park in the Crosshairs
6
The Fried Egg. DC Golf Trump National Links Trust Explained
7
Golf.com. Plan for President Trump DC Muni Fazio
8
The New York Times / The Athletic. DC Golf Courses Trump Administration Deal
9
Democracy Forward. Plaintiffs’ Emergency Stay Filing
10
The Washington Post. Golf Course East Wing Dirt Trump
11
The Guardian. Trump Ballroom Rubble Toxic Metals DC Golf Course
12
NBC Washington. East Wing Debris East Potomac Golf Course Toxic Metals NPS
13
U.S. Senator Angela Alsobrooks. Senator Alsobrooks and DMV Senators Demand Answers on Trump Administration’s Takeover of DC Golf Courses
14
CNN. DC Golf Courses Management Termination Trump Administration
15
Democracy Forward. Emergency Stay Sought in Legal Battle Over Public Access to East Potomac Golf Course
16
The Washington Times. Ana Reyes Federal Judge Lets Maintenance Proceed East Potomac Golf
17
NBC Washington. Trump Administration Plans East Potomac Golf Course
18
NOTUS. Judge Trump Plans D.C. Golf Closure
19
ABC News. Judge Warns Consequences Administration Begins Work East Potomac
20
Democracy Forward. The National Garden of American Heroes Foundation Brochure
21
CNN. Trump Fundraiser Sculpture Garden Golf Course
22
Democracy Forward. Challenging the Trump-Vance Administration’s Attempts to Convert a Longstanding Public Recreational Space Into a Private Golf Course for the President
23
National Park Service. East Potomac Park Golf Course
24
Fox 8 Live. Democracy Forward Tees Up Legal Challenge to Trump’s DC Golf Takeover