The Dispute Index

Ana C. Reyes

Portrait of Ana C. Reyes
United States District Court for the District of ColumbiaSourcePublic domain (U.S. government work)

Ana C. Reyes is a United States district judge for the District of Columbia. She was nominated by President Joe Biden and has served on the court since 2023. Born in Uruguay, she is the first Latina and the first openly LGBTQ person to serve as a district judge in Washington, D.C. Before joining the bench she was a partner at the Washington law firm Williams & Connolly, where she focused on cross-border disputes and international arbitration.

JudgeAlso known as Ana Reyes, Ana Cecilia Reyes, Judge ReyesWebsite (opens in a new tab)

What DI has documented

DI has documented statements by Ana C. Reyes on Arts and Culture and U.S. Politics. Read the quotations, original sources and related cases below.

Topics in this coverage

Statements by Ana C. Reyes

Portrait of Ana C. Reyes

Ana C. Reyes

Role at the time: U.S. district judge for the District of Columbia, presiding over the case

Challenged the characterization

Response to this claim

Judge Ana Reyes cannot impartially decide the East Potomac case and must be disqualified.

“So what happened? Not sudden onset bias. Instead, the Government decided to remove over 500 healthy, non-invasive trees from East Potomac Golf Course.”
Read the original text (opens in a new tab)DC Preservation League v. Department of the Interior, No. 1:26-cv-00477 (D.D.C.), memorandum opinion and order denying the motion to disqualify (Dkt. 95) · United States District Court for the District of ColumbiaMemorandum opinion, pages 1-3 and 8
Why we used this label

The reference point is the Interior Department's October 2026 removal of trees at East Potomac Golf Course and its plans to rebuild the course. Reyes disputes the government's account that her handling of the case reflects bias and attributes the conflict to the government's decision to remove the trees, so we labeled it Challenged the characterization. The closest competing label is Condemned; it loses because in this passage she describes the decision without expressly judging the removal.

Read statementJudge bars further tree removal at East Potomac Golf Course and rejects a Justice Department motion to disqualify her
Portrait of Ana C. Reyes

Ana C. Reyes

Role at the time: U.S. district judge for the District of Columbia, presiding over the case

Condemned

Response to this claim

The Park Service's tree removal at East Potomac Golf Course is a step in the administration's plan to rebuild the course and was carried out without the environmental review the National Environmental Policy Act requires.

“That asks rather a lot of coincidence. For now, Plaintiffs have satisfied the factors necessary for the Court to enter a temporary restraining order prohibiting further implementation of the TMP. They have shown a likelihood of success on jurisdiction: the individual plaintiffs regularly golf at East Potomac Golf Course, and the TMP is final agency action. They have also shown a likelihood of success on their National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) claim as NPS likely failed to comply with that statute’s procedural and “hard look” requirements.”
Read the original text (opens in a new tab)DC Preservation League v. Department of the Interior, No. 1:26-cv-00477 (D.D.C.), memorandum opinion granting a temporary restraining order (Dkt. 79) · United States District Court for the District of ColumbiaMemorandum opinion, pages 1-4
Why we used this label

The reference point is the Interior Department's October 2026 removal of trees at East Potomac Golf Course and its plans to rebuild the course. Reyes rejects the government's suggestion that the timing of the removal was a coincidence, saying it "asks rather a lot of coincidence", and finds the Park Service likely failed to comply with the law's procedural and review requirements, so we labeled it Condemned. The closest competing label is Challenged the characterization; it loses because she goes beyond disputing the government's account and bars further work.

Read statementJudge bars further tree removal at East Potomac Golf Course and rejects a Justice Department motion to disqualify her

A participant is a subject of the case. A speaker has a statement documented in it. A commentator has an opinion or editorial documented in it.