U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes has issued a temporary restraining order barring President Donald Trump's administration from taking any further action on East Potomac Park and its golf course, after crews tore out more than 400 trees at the site. A temporary restraining order is a short-term measure courts use to preserve the status quo while they weigh whether a longer-lasting injunction is warranted.

The order followed a heated Monday court appearance in which the judge, described as very angry, "screamed" at the administration's lawyers for flagging the tree-removal notice at 4:55 p.m. on the Friday before a holiday weekend. Within 24 hours, the trees were gone.

Reyes made clear she felt "lied to" by the administration after giving it a long leash, saying she trusted it to keep the court informed. Ignoring a court order in that manner infuriated the judge, who had been expected to come down hard in her ruling.

Norm Eisen, whose firm Democracy Defenders represents the clients in the case, announced the restraining order in a post on Bluesky.

"Court has halted the Trump admin tree removal at E. Potomac Golf Links, where we are contesting the dumping of toxic East Wing debris & creation of a hideous Trump golf course," Eisen wrote. "Huge win for clients & cocounsel Democracy Forward, Lowell & Assoc, & us at Democracy Defenders."

The debris at issue came from the East Wing of the White House, where Trump began bulldozing the historic building during the government shutdown. The material was then dumped on the golf course to serve as "filler" in the revitalization project, and there were concerns that none of it had been tested for toxic chemicals, asbestos, or other hazards before being deposited on the land. Asbestos is among the most closely regulated materials in demolition work, because inhaling its fibers is linked to serious long-term illness.

The next question is whether Reyes was angry enough to hold Trump officials in contempt of court.

While the fate of the trees matters to many in Washington, the central issue in the case is that the court's demands were violated — the latest in a long pattern of behavior. The administration has refused to comply with court orders in New Jersey, where it has done so more than 50 times, according to Courthouse News, as well as in Minnesota, Rhode Island, Illinois, and in several instances in Washington, D.C.

Administration officials such as Stephen Miller have argued that federal judges have no place in golf course construction, but the issue before the court is the violation of a court order — conduct that can land a lawyer or official in contempt of court, which can carry a hefty fine or, in some cases, jail time.

When that conduct played out again over the holiday weekend, Reyes was understandably irate: she spent the holiday, when the courthouse would normally have been closed, hunting for the person responsible.

This article is based on reporting by Alternet.