Judge Ana Reyes is right to probe DOJ lies about East Potomac
By Adele Rutherford · Reporting from Atlanta ·
After the Justice Department misled the court about plans to remake East Potomac Golf Links, Judge Ana Reyes ordered an inquiry into misconduct that exposes a dangerous erosion of judicial candor.
District Judge Ana Reyes is right to stop trusting the Justice Department. In a courtroom, the only currency that matters is the truth. When government lawyers trade that truth for political convenience, they do not just lose a case. They bankrupt the legitimacy of the court. By ordering a formal inquiry into potential misconduct on October 30, 2026, Judge Reyes is not playing politics. She is policing the boundary between legal advocacy and a lie.
The machinery of a misrepresentation
The facts in this case are not complex. They are an embarrassment. For months, Justice Department attorneys told Judge Reyes that plans to transform East Potomac Golf Links were not final. Then, those same lawyers admitted in writing that the government planned to close the course and surrounding park in mid-November. According to NPR, the government then revealed it would submit a rendering by architect Tom Fazio for a "World Class, championship-level golf course."
This was not a misunderstanding. It was a strategy. While the Department of Justice told the court there was no plan, the operational machinery was already moving. Trees were removed in October 2026. Judge Reyes called this tree-clearing a "pretext" to start work without approvals.
The legal issue here is D.C. Bar Rule of Professional Conduct 3.3. This rule prohibits lawyers from knowingly making false statements to the court. It is the most basic obligation of an officer of the court. When Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward Jr. told the judge that the submission to the National Capital Planning Commission had been in progress for weeks, he confirmed the deception. He admitted that the government was putting pen to paper on a design while telling the judge the plan did not exist.
The privilege of the post
The government's defense of this conduct is as thin as the turf on a winter green. Stanley Woodward Jr. attempted to characterize President Donald Trump's Truth Social announcements about the project as a matter of executive privilege. This is a lawyerly trick that fails the simplest test. Executive privilege protects internal deliberations. It does not protect a public social media post. Judge Reyes saw through it immediately. "He posted it!" she responded.
This is the professional bind of the modern Justice Department. Woodward is tasked with reconciling the public whims of a president with the formal requirements of the law. But a lawyer's first duty is to the tribunal. The administration claims the closure is a safety necessity. They cite a crumbling seawall that costs between $150 million and $400 million to repair. They even cited the risk of people falling into the Potomac River.
These may be facts, but they are not the whole truth. The government used safety as a shield to hide a redesign.
The cost of a broken tool
This inquiry is about more than a golf course. It is about the mechanism of the Saturday Night Massacre. In 1973, the Department of Justice was used as a tool for presidential obstruction to stop a legal investigation. The mechanism here is the same. When the DOJ stops being a law firm for the United States and starts being a law firm for the president, it ceases to function as a legitimate arm of the state.
The strongest case for the government is that the lawyers were merely following the lead of the agencies they represent. They might argue that the National Park Service kept them in the dark. But that is a failure of diligence, not a defense of misconduct. A lawyer who represents a client in court is responsible for the truth of the filings they sign.
The DC Preservation League filed this suit in February 2026 to protect a space designated by an 1897 act to be "forever held and used as a park." The law is clear. The process, however, was muddied. As Al Jazeera reports, the inquiry will determine if officials breached ethical obligations. The Washington Post notes that the judge has repeatedly questioned the candor of the government.
If the Justice Department believes it can lie to a federal judge and simply appeal the result, the court becomes a suggestion rather than an authority. Legitimacy is a capital stock that spends fast and refills slowly. By treating the DOJ as a suspected liar, Judge Reyes is not attacking the administration. She is defending the only tool we have to keep the administration honest.
The government has spent months asking the court to trust its word. Judge Reyes has decided that trust is no longer a viable legal strategy. If the special master finds that Woodward and his team knowingly misled the court, the result should not be a slap on the wrist. It should be a referral to the bar. A rule that only applies when the government is not in a hurry to build a golf course is not a rule at all.