Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH) filed a motion in court Friday to prohibit President Donald Trump from moving forward with the planned temporary closure and renovations at the Trump-Kennedy Center.
Beatty, an ex officio trustee at the recently renamed center, filed the motion to challenge what she called Trump’s “unlawful efforts to rename, shutter, and gut the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.”
In February, Trump announced his plans to close the Washington, D.C., performing center starting on July 4 for two years, subject to board approval. He said he determined the closure would “produce a much faster and higher quality” renovation as he seeks to overhaul the aesthetics of the “tired, broken, and dilapidated” building.
Beatty initially filed the lawsuit challenging the renaming of the Kennedy Center last December and is now challenging the closure of the center in a combined motion. She is seeking a preliminary injunction to prohibit Trump and the Kennedy Center team from taking any steps to implement the president’s plan to close and rebuild the Kennedy Center while her lawsuit is pending.
She is also seeking a temporary restraining order barring Trump from preventing her from attending, voicing her opinion, and voting at a Kennedy Center board meeting where the board will vote on Trump’s closure and renovation plan. Beatty has focused on this point before, claiming in her December lawsuit that she called into the board’s vote on the name change and was muted when she tried to speak against the move.
Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell blasted this point when Beatty initially made it in December, saying that ex officio members of the board, including Beatty, never get votes.
“You are a non-voting ex-officio member. All ex-officio Members never get to vote,” Grenell said.
The White House said only “deranged Democrats” would oppose Trump’s efforts to “rescue and revitalize” the center.
“While the Democrats neglected the Trump-Kennedy Center for years, President Trump immediately stepped up to rescue and revitalize the institution. The newly named Trump-Kennedy Center proudly recognizes President Trump’s incredible contributions including strengthening its finances, leading major building upgrades, removing divisive woke programming, and transforming it into a welcoming destination that everyone can enjoy under his leadership. Only deranged Democrats could oppose these efforts,” White House spokeswoman Liz Huston told the Washington Examiner.
Beatty has filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and the case has been assigned to Obama-appointed Judge Christopher Reid Cooper.
Beatty’s opposition to the renovations flies in the face of Trump and the Kennedy Center higher-ups, who say it’s time for a change.
KENNEDY CENTER HONORS TO ‘GO FORWARD’ EVEN THROUGH RENOVATION CLOSURE
“This important decision, based on input from many Highly Respected Experts, will take a tired, broken, and dilapidated Center, one that has been in bad condition, both financially and structurally for many years, and turn it into a World Class Bastion of Arts, Music, and Entertainment, far better than it has ever been before,” Trump said in February.
The renovations, set to be made with funding from the $257 million designated by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, will “address disrepair and deferred maintenance” of the building, the Kennedy Center previously told the Washington Examiner. The renovations will include maintenance to the exterior, improvements to the structural integrity, and work to bring it into compliance with safety and security standards.