Federal Judge Ana Reyes went off again Monday morning, screaming at Trump administration lawyers in a Washington, D.C. courtroom over tree removals at a municipal golf course that has existed for over 100 years. This is a real thing that is actually happening.
According to reporting from Scott MacFarlane of MeidasTouch after last Monday’s hearing, “I’ve never heard a judge scream at full voice at a lawyer before.” Apparently she decided that was a personal record worth beating, because Monday’s encore reportedly had her raging at the president’s legal team: “We can do this all day! I have NOTHING planned for this evening!” Good to know the federal judiciary has cleared its calendar for golf course drama.
President Trump was not exactly in a diplomatic mood about it. He posted on Truth Social that the Department of Interior “has an absolute right” to renovate what he called “a terrible and very unsafe golf course,” adding that “the judge on the case is a crazed lunatic whose courthouse tapes will reveal, may be insane.” He also noted that the tapes have been blocked from use by the judge herself, and declared that the random golfer who filed the lawsuit has “ZERO STANDING” and that work is scheduled to begin “IMMEDIATELY.” Reyes, per Politico, was also not happy about that post, which is probably the least surprising sentence written this year.
On Friday, the defendants filed a motion seeking to disqualify Reyes, accusing her of bias. “Judge Reyes’s behavior in this case is nothing short of egregious,” Judge Reyes golf course hearing the motion reads. The Department of the Interior and the National Park Service had already argued that the plaintiffs never established any actual harm, and that their “desire for NPS to cater to their aesthetic and recreational preferences does not create a legally protected interest.” In other words: you don’t own the park, pal.
Democrats naturally could not resist piling on. Rep. Pramila Jayapal posted that “Donald Trump is fighting harder for a golf course than he is for working people.” Rep. Don Beyer of Northern Virginia called the tree removals a “mass felling” and accused the administration of lying to conceal that the president “doesn’t care” about the economy and is instead focused on “an upscale golf course within walking distance of the White House,” a “fancy ballroom,” and “a memorial arch to himself.” Beyer also warned that the design would block roads used by cyclists and walkers to make the area “another exclusive hangout for Trump’s rich and powerful friends – which is way better than catering to cyclists anyway, so who cares?
Meanwhile, a department spokesperson had already explained the whole thing back in August: “Trees throughout the park are regularly monitored for potential safety impacts to visitors, and when a tree is determined to be dying, declining, or hazardous our arborists may make the decision to remove it.” Dead trees. They removed dead trees. Democrats heard that and said hold my overpriced oat milk latte.
The administration’s disqualification motion is now pending, and the renovation is scheduled to move forward. If Judge Reyes really does have nothing planned for her evenings, she might want to find a hobby that does not involve screaming at lawyers over municipal landscaping decisions. Might we suggest golf? Trump knows a course, but it needs some fixing!
But seriously, folks. Imagine telling people how your day was and all you did was scream about a golf course that needs actual renovations? Yeah, that’s something else, ain’t it! Slow clap.
