The East Potomac Park Golf Course in Washington, D.C. opened in 1919 and was designed by Walter J. Travis. An 1897 congressional act created the park just south of the National Mall and dictated it be “forever held and used as a park for the recreation and pleasure of the people.”
U.S. President Donald Trump, an avid golfer, has new plans for the historic public site.
The Trump administration has proposed building a new golf course atop East Potomac Park Golf Course for hosting “professional tournaments and more exclusive events for wealthy golfers,” the DC Preservation League said in a press release.
The DC Preservation League and two DMV residents—Dave Roberts and Alex Dickson—are now suing the Trump administration to stop the project from moving forward.
In the same lawsuit, Trump was also criticized for illegally dumping debris from the former East Wing on top of the park, creating an environmental hazard.
The plaintiffs allege that the project violates parts of the National Environmental Policy Act, the National Historic Preservation Act, the Administrative Procedure Act, and the 1897 congressional act that created the park.
The lawsuit was filed on February 13 in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. According to the DC Preservation League over 30,000 cubic yards of wires, pipes, bricks, and other materials from the former East Wing have been illegally dumped onto the park.
Roberts and Dickson often golf at the East Potomac Park course. The plaintiffs are represented by the Democracy Forward Foundation, Lowell & Associates, and Democracy Defenders Fund—the same group suing Trump over the allegedly unlawful renovations now underway at the Kennedy Center.
The U.S. Department of the Interior and its National Park Service (NPS) have been tasked by Trump to shepherd the project, per reporting in The Washington Post. Rebecca Miller, DC Preservation League executive director, said in a statement altering East Potomac Park would “undermine a site meant to be accessible to the public.”
Trump first announced his plans to take control of the capital’s three public golf courses in December 2025. The National Links Trust, a nonprofit that stewards the golf courses, was told that month by the White House that its 50-year lease with the NPS may be terminated. The National Links Trust’s official lease was terminated in December. Now, advocacy groups are taking legal action to stymie the project.
“The Trump administration’s blatant attempt to circumvent the law and turn this public treasure into a private playground for the wealthy cannot stand,” said Abbe Lowell, founding member of Lowell & Associates, one of the law firms representing the DC Preservation League.
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