A federal judge in Washington heard arguments this week about whether the president can change the name of the famed Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts — to add his own — and close it for two years of renovation.
On Wednesday morning, a federal judge considered a challenge brought by a coalition of eight preservation groups, including the group that brought a lawsuit over construction of the White House ballroom. The groups allege that the president — who ousted the center’s board of trustees to install loyalists and then declared himself chairman — has flouted environmental and historic preservation laws in closing the center for renovation.
The hearing was one in a pair of lawsuits challenging the president’s proposed remaking of the Kennedy Center, Washington’s premier performing arts space, named for President John F. Kennedy. Trump moved late last year to rename the building the Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, spurring a lawsuit filed in December by Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, who called the renaming “a flagrant violation of the rule of law,” as it requires an act of Congress. The same judge heard arguments in that case Tuesday morning.
“They are embezzling the center’s goodwill and its good name,” Nathaniel Zelinsky, a lawyer for Beatty, argued in court. “The center is named for John F. Kennedy and John F. Kennedy alone.”
In a post on Truth Social, Trump described the project as “Construction, Revitalization, and Complete Rebuilding” to create a “new and beautiful Landmark.” The president’s comments suggest his vision of the project exceeds the routine repairs and maintenance already authorized by Congress.
The Kennedy Center suits are just two of many legal actions currently challenging the president’s construction projects. Some of these suits use the argument of separation of powers, claiming that a federal statute prohibits construction of buildings or structures on federal reservations, parks or public grounds without explicit congressional approval.
The challenge to the White House ballroom is one of them.
The ballroom
Trump’s vision of a 90,000-square-foot White House ballroom comes with a $400 million price tag. In October, without consulting Congress, the president abruptly and unilaterally demolished the East Wing of the White House — sometimes called “the People’s House” — and began building the ballroom in its stead.
The administration is now using the events of this weekend — the shooting inside the hotel where the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was taking place — to say that the construction of a new ballroom is more important than ever.
In a letter written Sunday to the National Trust for Historic Preservation — the group that brought the lawsuit — the Justice Department argues that the “assassination attempt on President Trump proves, yet again, that the White House ballroom is essential for the safety and security of the President, his family, his cabinet, and his staff.”
And a number of Trump’s top advisers and supporters followed suit, posting on social media that the ballroom construction holdup is not justified.
A federal judge last month temporarily blocked construction until the White House receives congressional authorization, marking the first major setback for the president’s design plans. That judge later clarified his ruling, allowing national security-related construction to continue but reiterating a block on all ballroom construction.
The District of Columbia Circuit has temporarily allowed construction of the ballroom to continue until at least June as an appeal goes on, but the order from the federal judge that halted construction in the first place was scathing. In his 35-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon was passionate that Trump doesn’t have the unilateral authority to rebuild the White House.
“The President of the United States is the steward of the White House for future generations of First Families. He is not, however, the owner!” Leon wrote in an opinion peppered with exclamation marks, illustrating his apparent disbelief at the government’s actions.
“Defendants point to ‘alteration’ and ‘improvement,’ arguing that these terms are ‘capacious’ and permit the President to ‘modify’ the White House and ‘make [it] better,’ including by constructing entirely new buildings like the ballroom,” Leon wrote. “A brazen interpretation, indeed!”
“Unfortunately for defendants, unless and until Congress blesses this project through statutory authorization, construction has to stop!” Leon wrote.
Although the appellate court temporarily paused Leon’s block on construction, the Justice Department on Monday also asked Leon to reverse that emphatic order. In a motion that reads like social media posts by the president, the government argues that the continued block on construction has “put the president’s life at risk” and that the plaintiffs suffer from “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
The ‘Arc de Trump’
At the same time, another federal judge in Washington is weighing the president’s proposal for a 250-feet-tall triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery. A group of Vietnam veterans sued in February, arguing that the “Arc de Trump” is a “vanity project” that lacks congressional and other legally required approval. They claim the arch would also disrupt a historic sight line between Arlington House and the Lincoln Memorial, which was designed as a symbol of national unity after the Civil War.
The administration has not yet broken ground on the arch, but in a hearing this month, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan expressed concern that that could change while the lawsuit is pending, specifically pointing to Trump’s public statements about the project.
The government confirmed that it would seek National Park Service authorization — though notably not congressional authorization — before beginning construction. Following that admission, Chutkan declined to immediately block construction of the arch. She did, however, order the government to formally provide her with at least 14 days’ notice before beginning construction or any demolition in preparation for construction. The case remains ongoing.
The golf courses
The president is taking a swing at a project he has constructed many times before: championship-style golf courses. The administration is trying to overhaul the three public golf courses in the nation’s capital under contract with the park service, including Langston Golf Course in Northeast Washington. Once the only public course that allowed Black golfers, Langston holds great historical significance in the city.
Two local golfers sued in February to block the plan to redevelop the course in East Potomac Park, claiming it violated the 1897 federal law that created the park and directed it “be forever held and used as a park for the recreation and pleasure of the people.” They also accuse the administration of violating environmental laws and polluting the park.
Trump has so far used the course as a dumping ground for the rubble from the East Wing demolition. At least 30,000 cubic yards of debris have been dumped on the White Course, a nine-hole green designed for intermediate golfers, also dubbed the “Family Course.”
“When I heard about the dirt being moved to East Potomac and then saw it there for myself, I felt violated,” said Dave Roberts, a local golfer who brought the case. “It’s a violation of the course and how it is meant to be used. It’s a violation of the landscape. It’s a violation of the basic idea of what federal lands are supposed to be.”
Roberts has been playing at East Potomac since he graduated from college in 2002. He is worried the president’s vision for the course would make it inaccessible. “It wouldn’t be for regular golfers like me anymore,” he writes. “It would close the door on happy memories and what I thought was going to be a central part of my recreational time with my family.”
This month, the government filed a motion to dismiss the case, arguing that the group lacks both the authority and the legal basis to bring this case. “There was a golf course at East Potomac Park before government deliberations began and there will still be a golf course at East Potomac Park after the project is planned, and, if approved, implemented,” the DOJ said in its brief.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes continues to weigh the future of the golf course.
The president could soon face more judicial stop-work orders on any of these cases. While they remain pending, some of these judges have already expressed skepticism about the president’s ability to unilaterally reconstruct the nation’s capital in his image.
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