A federal judge has issued an emergency injunction demanding the Department of the Interior halt its aggressive tree-cutting campaign at East Potomac Golf Course, granting the agency a mandatory two-week recess from defying the judicial branch with chainsaws.
A federal judge on Tuesday issued a sweeping injunction to halt the Department of the Interior's ongoing deforestation efforts at a municipal golf course, formally ordering the executive branch to step away from the landscaping equipment.
The ruling temporarily prohibits any further major modifications at the D.C. course while the court seeks sworn testimony from senior interior officials, an evidentiary step designed to determine precisely why the cabinet department tasked with national conservation has prioritized rapidly clear-cutting a public par-3.
According to court filings reviewed by reporters, the emergency intervention was necessitated after agency contractors were observed accelerating their arboreal demolition in direct response to a prior court mandate, reportedly running heavy-duty woodchippers on the back nine under the cover of darkness to ensure the 11th hole was entirely devoid of shade before the Tuesday hearing.
While we intend to observe this temporary halt, the department maintains that its statutory mandate to manage federal lands includes the sovereign right to indiscriminately obliterate any willow tree obstructing a municipal fairway.
The court has scheduled a follow-up hearing for the end of the month, during which department attorneys are expected to submit formal briefings arguing that openly ignoring a federal injunction constitutes a protected executive privilege, provided the resulting wood debris is distributed evenly across the rough.