A federal judge on Thursday lamented the anger and threats she has faced over the removal of trees as part of President Donald Trump’s controversial effort to turn a public golf course in Washington, DC, into a championship-level one.
But the discussion about the removal of the trees at the East Potomac Golf Course – which dominated a proceeding that ostensibly was about the case schedule – was ultimately resolved with Trump’s opponents accepting the government’s explanation that the trees were chopped down for routine reasons.
US District Judge Ana Reyes noted the irony that this year is America’s 250th birthday and “a president chopping down cherry trees” is a court matter, harkening back to an apocryphal story associated with President George Washington.
“People are pretty upset,” she noted, adding that she has received threats, including from someone who said he would remove her if she didn’t “save the trees.”
“I do not speak for the trees, I am not the Lorax” she said, referencing the famous Dr. Seuss book and character while echoing its cadence of lines, “I am a judge.”
