Well, that escalated quickly.

The DOJ, in a motion signed by Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, is moving to disqualify Judge Ana C. Reyes from the Trump administration’s East Potomac Golf Links case under 28 U.S.C. § 455(a).

The filing argues that her conduct has created a clear appearance of partiality and continues a pattern of animus toward the Trump administration.

The motion specifically cites Reyes’s treatment of government counsel (she repeatedly belittled and shouted at a DOJ lawyer, telling her “you did your absolute worst”), her demands that senior officials drop everything for testimony over tree removal, and her remarks and handling of other Trump-related cases.

This is the same Biden-appointed judge who earlier ordered advance notice before any substantial work (especially cutting more than 10 trees), then exploded when the government moved forward with removing hundreds of trees after giving notice. She issued a temporary restraining order, threatened contempt, and has a prior history of high-profile clashes with the administration, including the transgender military ban litigation.

This is what activist judges do: they treat the executive branch’s legitimate authority as optional, lecture and berate government lawyers when policy doesn’t match their preferences, and insert themselves into day-to-day decisions (here, municipal golf course maintenance and tree management). When the administration pushes back on the resulting appearance of bias, the same judges and their defenders frame it as an attack on the judiciary.

The pattern is consistent across multiple cases and multiple judges. Impartiality is not optional under § 455(a).

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