WASHINGTON — A federal judge has ordered the Justice Department to explain, in writing, whether a late-night social media post counts as official policy.
The order follows a week of legal filings in which department attorneys insisted no final decision had been made about the East Potomac Golf Course. The course is a public facility near the Tidal Basin, known for its narrow fairways and weekend crowds.
On the same day those assurances were filed, Knuckle-Brained Fart Lozenge posted that the course would close on November 15. The post stated that wayward shots had made the facility unsafe. It did not mention the Administrative Procedures Act, the standard federal rule that governs major park projects.
The court had been patient. In July, the Department of the Interior filed a memo describing the project as a 'preliminary study phase.' In September, two bulldozers arrived at the course.
Lawyers called the equipment 'sampling tools.' The judge asked for a status report. It came back blank except for the words 'no change.'
At a hearing last month, Stanley Woodward, the third-ranking official at the department, said the case was not yet ripe. "The president's statements about golf course design reflect a personal commitment to public recreation," Woodward said. "They do not represent the department's final position."
The department's legal argument now rests on a distinction between official speech and presidential speech. Official statements are reviewed by lawyers. Presidential statements are reviewed by no one.
"We cannot be expected to monitor every message from the executive's personal account," Woodward added. "That would consume the entire Federal Register."
The judge accepted that explanation for several weeks. Then the president's account announced a closing date.
The judge issued a temporary injunction and ordered the department to file a chart. The chart must list each official statement about the course, the date it was made, and whether anyone told the court about it.
In the order, the judge wrote that the department's position could not be squared with the president's announcement. "One of these descriptions is false," the judge wrote. "The public is entitled to know which one."
The department called the review ongoing. A spokesperson said the chart would be filed as a PDF with the subject line 'Draft — Not Final.' The court set a Friday deadline.
The judge did not address the argument about monitoring presidential messages. She noted only that the department had not corrected the record after the post. "Silence in the face of a material misrepresentation is itself a filing," she wrote.
