Golf has plenty of rules rows, but few end with a municipal course getting its own special master. A federal judge has turned a fight over trees, tee times and a century-old public course into an inquiry into the government’s own lawyers. The person she picked for the job is an unusual choice: Jessie Liu, a former top Washington prosecutor first appointed by Donald Trump himself.
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U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes had already signalled how far the case had moved from golf. “Rarely, if ever, has the United States Department of Justice urged a federal court not to believe the sitting president,” she wrote in an earlier ruling, according to Reuters. “This started as a case about golf … But it has become much more.” On Saturday, she said she would appoint Liu as special master to investigate the conduct of the Justice and Interior departments in the litigation.
Liu was U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia during Trump’s first term, from 2017 to 2020. Her office prosecuted his longtime adviser Roger Stone and was involved in the Paul Manafort case. After a few years in private practice, she and two other former prosecutors launched their own firm in April.
Her role is limited. She will investigate whether lawyers from the Justice Department or Interior Department broke ethical rules. Judge Reyes wants to find out whether government lawyers acted in “bad faith” by saying there was no renovation plan while other officials were already preparing one for the National Capital Planning Commission.
The investigation follows a tense court hearing on October 30. Two days earlier, government lawyers had admitted in writing that a plan to close the course in mid-November did exist. “For months, the court trusted, but did not verify,” Reyes said.
She spent most of that hearing questioning Stanley Woodward, the third-highest-ranking official at the Justice Department. Whether Trump’s own social media posts counted as “plans” was one sticking point.
No finding has been made. Liu’s assignment concerns the lawyers’ conduct, not whether the renovation itself can proceed.
The dispute escalated after National Park Service crews removed about 430 trees from the course over one weekend in October. Officials denied the clearing was part of a broader renovation, but Reyes called it a pretext for starting work without proper approvals. She then barred further removal and ordered at least 10 business days’ written notice before any irreversible change to the park.
Trump has described the course as “dangerous, dilapidated, and absolutely disgusting.” The National Park Service cites safety concerns over a deteriorating seawall along the Potomac. At the October 30 hearing, Woodward said repairs would cost between $150 million and $400 million.
The clock is running. Preservation groups filed an emergency motion on November 5 to block the planned November 15 closure of East Potomac Park south of Buckeye Drive. That area includes the golf course, and a hearing is set for November 13. The plan is a 15-month overhaul under architect Tom Fazio.
The course’s operator is leaving. The nonprofit National Links Trust will stop running East Potomac by November 15 under a new lease, while keeping Rock Creek and Langston under a 50-year agreement.
East Potomac drew more than 120,000 rounds in 2025, according to National Links Trust, making it the busiest public course in the DC area. That is why the fight matters beyond the courtroom.
No timeline for Liu’s work has been announced. Her findings could still affect how much weight the court gives the government’s statements as the case continues.