Trump's Kennedy Center closure is 'unlawful,' Rep. Beatty tells judge in emergency hearing request
Rep. Joyce Beatty asked a judge Wednesday to hold an emergency hearing on what the Ohio Democrat called the "unlawful" closure of the Kennedy Center by President Donald Trump and the performing arts facility's board of trustees.
Beatty's motion says the closure is in "apparent violation" of a prior order from Judge Christopher Cooper in U.S. District Court in Washington.
Cooper later Wednesday ordered Trump and the board to respond to Beatty's request by Thursday morning.
"The Court will schedule a prompt hearing if necessary after reviewing the response," Cooper said in his order.
Beatty's request came a day after the board, of which she is an ex officio member, voted to close the Kennedy Center for renovations. Trump later Tuesday said it would close "immediately."
Trump also said planned renovations and reconstruction of the Washington center would not begin until a federal appeals court or the Supreme Court rules that his name can be included in the facility's official name.
A staff member for a law firm representing Beatty visited the center Wednesday morning and was barred from entering, according to the congresswoman's motion. The staffer "was informed by several security staff members that the building is currently closed to the public," the motion said.
"In addition, the staff member was informed that construction is beginning on the interior of the building and that the public is completely barred from accessing the facility for 'safety reasons,'" the filing said.
"Closing the Kennedy Center without Judge Cooper's approval appears to directly violate his order. This is an assault on the rule of law," Beatty's lawyers, Norm Eisen and Nathaniel Zelinsky, said in a statement.
"The board cannot simply ignore Judge Cooper's rulings whenever it suits them. In this country, no one — including the president — is above the law," the attorneys said.
The lawyers pointed to a May ruling by Cooper in which he ordered that Trump's name be removed from the center and which enjoined the board from shuttering the center "until the Board approves any closure consistent with" Cooper's ruling "and the Court issues a further Order dissolving or modifying this preliminary injunction."
The Kennedy Center's board, which Trump named himself to head, voted in December to rename the center, which honors the late President John F. Kennedy. The facility then became known as the Trump Kennedy Center, though Congress never formally changed its name.
Beatty filed a lawsuit in December seeking to reverse the board's action. Cooper ordered in May that Trump's name be stripped off.
"Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it," Cooper wrote in his ruling.
The Department of Justice, which represents Trump and the board in the case, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The DOJ is appealing a decision by Cooper issued on Tuesday that barred the board from adding Trump's name back to the building and naming the grounds of the center after him.
The board in an Aug. 13 resolution said it intended "to recognize and honor President Trump's future existential and unprecedented contributions to the survival of the Center."
The board planned to inscribe the words "renovated and restored by President Donald J. Trump" underneath the words that currently say, "The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts."
The board also said it would name the center's physical grounds "The President Donald J. Trump Plaza."
Cooper, in his order Tuesday, said, "Simply put, Defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress's blessing."
""The board resolution bucks a federal court order and a statute Congress enacted," the judge said.
