A contentious federal court battle over President Donald Trump's plans for the East Potomac Golf Course — a public course on Potomac River parkland in Washington, D.C. — got underway Monday morning, after Judge Ana Reyes refused in a late-night court filing to recuse herself from the case despite the administration's claim that she was too emotional to preside. At one point, Trump's lawyer started to stand — and she told him to sit.

Recusal requests like the administration's are decided in the first instance by the very judge whose removal is being sought, with any challenge coming later on appeal — so Monday's hearing proceeded with Reyes fully in control. She opened the hearing with a sarcastic aside. "I trust everyone's weekend was as relaxing as mine and my clerk's," she said. Lawfare's Roger Parloff was in the courtroom transcribing the proceedings on Bluesky.

The judge's first act was to order Trump administration lawyer Stanley Woodward to refile his submission from the previous night with as many Justice Department attorneys as are willing to sign it.

"Raise your hand if you're willing to sign it," she said to the lawyers.

Woodward replied that the request was not appropriate.

"Right now, for Rule 11 purposes, which other attorneys are willing to sign this brief?" Reyes asked.

"I'm going to instruct attorneys not to answer," Woodward said.

"I'm ordering you all to come to the podium and sign it. I'm giving them a direct order. If they want to disobey ... you've made filing ... officer of court ... you signed it. I'm entitled to know what other DOJ attorneys are willing to sign it," she said, referring to a filing from Monday morning — not the motion demanding that she step aside.

Rule 11 is the federal provision that lets courts penalize lawyers for filings that lack a factual or legal basis or are submitted for an improper purpose, which is why Reyes pressed for the names of every attorney willing to stand behind the document.

Reyes gave Woodward until 3 p.m. to refile a brief arguing why Justice Department attorneys should not respond to her direct order.

She then read an explanation of why she believes she has the legal authority to demand the testimony. Walking through her overnight ruling, she described the entire ordeal as an exceptional situation.

"I don't know that I need to find bad faith ... that noted, the court is not required to exhibit naïveté from which ordinary citizens are free," she said.

The judge pointed out that Trump has by now publicly posted on Truth Social demanding that the current golf course be destroyed, ordering work to begin "immediately." The Department of the Interior, meanwhile, has claimed there is nothing to see, saying the government was executing a 2019 plan — even as Trump uploaded the plan he wants implemented immediately to Truth Social.

Reyes called that discrepancy a strong indication of bad faith. The administration, for its part, argues that the judge is violating fundamental separation-of-powers principles and cannot compel testimony from high-level officials. That argument places the case inside a familiar friction point between the branches: how far a court may go in probing the internal decision-making behind a government action, and which agency employees can be required to answer questions about it.

"But people I heard from last week and will hear from today (unlike those in precedents government cited) each has personal knowledge of facts of this case," she explained. "It will help me understand if the agency has been accurate and forthcoming ... It is essential to understanding how the plan was developed."

She also noted that the witnesses in question are not "high-ranking officials." That category would include Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, whom she has not compelled to appear, and no one at the White House has been asked to appear at this time.

"The government's behavior in this case has been nothing if not extraordinary," she said.

Questioning then began. One line of inquiry concerned whether the Justice Department believed, during last week's hearing, that the Transportation Management Plan (TMP) had anything to do with the redesign of the golf course. At that time, the government said it had nothing to do with the redesign.

"Did they know whether that was accurate?" the judge asked.

Woodward began to stand up.

"Sit down," Reyes ordered.

The 3 p.m. deadline for the refiled brief now sets the next checkpoint, with the immediate questions being whether any other Justice Department attorneys attach their signatures and how the government responds to her order that attorneys explain why they should not answer.