WASHINGTON, Oct. 14 -- Judge Ana Reyes of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia took the Justice Department at its word. Earlier this year she declined to block work at East Potomac Golf Links after administration lawyers assured her the plaintiffs and the court would get ample notice of any large-scale work, NBC News reported.

The notice came shortly before 5 p.m. on the Friday of a three-day holiday weekend. Crews started cutting on Saturday morning, and by Monday Reyes was telling government lawyers, "I trusted you all not to do precisely what you have done." The episode, she said, "has cost the government all of its credibility."

On Tuesday she extended an order barring the Trump administration from felling any more t...