A lawsuit seeks to stop Trump's overhaul of a 100-year-old public golf course in Washington

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: AP

Updated 9:59 PM EST, February 13, 2026


Two golfers in Washington, D.C., sued the federal government on Friday to try to prevent the Trump administration from overhauling a more than 100-year-old public golf course, accusing the administration of violating environmental laws and polluting a park that is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The suit is the latest in a series of legal battles challenging President Donald Trump’s extraordinary efforts to put his mark on public spaces in the nation’s capitol, including shuttering the Kennedy Center. At the end of last year, a group of preservationists filed a similar lawsuit seeking to prevent the administration from demolishing the East Wing of the White House in order to build a ballroom — a project slated to cost $400.

Trump, who is an avid golfer himself, also plans on renovating a military golf course just outside of Washington that has been used by past presidents going back decades.

The complaint filed against the Department of the Interior on Friday says that the Trump administration’s reconstruction of East Potomac Park — which includes the East Potomac Golf Course — would violate the congressional act that created the park in 1897. The roughly 130-year-old act established the park for the “recreation and the pleasure of the people.”

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/trump-washington-public-golf-course-renovation-d41499083ce596b84e5f7e135a1b4e6f

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Link to SUIT (PDF) - https://democracyforward.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/DC-Preservation-League-et.-al.-v.-Department-of-the-Interior-et.-al.pdf

Link to Democracy Forward PRESS RELEASE - Legal Challenge Brought Against Effort by Trump-Vance Administration to Stymie Public Access to East Potomac Park, Create Exclusive Golf Course for President


REFERENCES

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143570595
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143581666
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143586911
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143590755