The dispute comes as construction fencing and barriers have gone up around the Kennedy Center complex along the Potomac River. The main building has been closed to the public while officials prepare for what they describe as urgent safety and reconstruction work.
Beatty’s legal team even sent a staff member to the facility Wednesday morning. The employee was reportedly informed that the building had been closed.
The latest confrontation is another chapter in a legal dispute that has been unfolding for months.
Cooper previously intervened in the Kennedy Center controversy in May, blocking a planned two-year closure for renovations and ordering the removal of President Donald Trump’s name from the building’s exterior.
In that ruling, Cooper criticized the trustees’ actions, describing them as “derelict” and “seemingly preordained.”
Cooper was nominated to the federal bench by former President Barack Obama. In his May decision, he concluded that Congress—not the Kennedy Center’s board—has authority to change the statutory name of the living memorial established in honor of President John F. Kennedy in 1964.
However, the judge also left the board an opportunity to return with a different proposal. The board was effectively given a path to seek a modification of the injunction if it could present a more “prudent” basis for closing the facility.
The board subsequently tried again.
On August 13, trustees voted to close the Kennedy Center’s main building for approximately two years after reviewing more than 160 pages of engineering reports, cost estimates and related analysis.
The proposed renovation was also tied to a plan to identify the work as “Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump.”
Cooper rejected the proposed inscription Tuesday.
Then, only hours later, the board voted by an overwhelming margin to close the building immediately.
Kennedy Center officials cited safety concerns, including a recent incident involving part of the building’s ceiling.
A section of plaster in the Grand Foyer reportedly fell approximately 60 feet onto an unoccupied level following storms. No injuries were reported.
For Kennedy Center officials, the incident became another indication that the facility’s long-running maintenance problems could no longer be treated as routine repairs.
The broader renovation dispute centers on the condition of the massive complex and how the necessary work should be completed.
Trump has repeatedly argued that the building has suffered from years of deferred maintenance and deteriorating infrastructure. His administration and Kennedy Center allies have pushed for a comprehensive reconstruction rather than years of piecemeal work while performances continue.
Congress has already appropriated more than $250 million toward the project through the president’s spending package.
Supporters of the closure have also pointed to engineering and financial analyses presented to the board. Those assessments reportedly concluded that completing the work during a roughly two-year full closure would be faster and less expensive than keeping portions of the facility operating during a longer renovation.
Trump addressed the board’s decision on Truth Social following Tuesday’s vote:
The Board of The Kennedy Center today agreed, almost unanimously, to close the Building for Safety reasons, and so that it can begin the process of Reconstruction.
The closing will take place immediately, however, the Renovation and Reconstruction, which is a very large and complex job, cannot begin until such time as the D.C. Circuit rules on the Board’s approved name.
If the ruling is a negative one, which it should not be, and is not overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Reconstruction and the Renovation of The Kennedy Center will not take place.
Trump also said approximately $17 million he helped raise remains available to support the center while the legal fight continues.
Meanwhile, the naming dispute is already before the federal appeals court. A D.C. Circuit panel previously declined to pause Cooper’s order requiring Trump’s name to be removed from the building.
Beatty, an Ohio Democrat and Kennedy Center board member by virtue of her position in the House, has emerged as one of the central figures challenging the Trump administration’s changes at the institution.
Her attorneys are now taking the argument a step further. They contend that the Kennedy Center cannot use an emergency safety closure to proceed around Cooper’s existing injunction without first obtaining permission from the court.
The legal team has also asked the court to bring a senior Kennedy Center official before the judge.
Among Beatty’s attorneys is Norm Eisen, a prominent critic of Trump who has participated in multiple legal and political challenges involving the president.
Eisen defended the latest court action by declaring that “no one — including the president — is above the law.”
The dispute now places the Kennedy Center’s physical safety, planned reconstruction, presidential naming dispute and federal court orders into a single legal confrontation.
The Justice Department’s response due Thursday morning could determine whether Cooper schedules another hearing and potentially provide the next major development in a case that has already stretched across several months.
For now, the building remains closed, the renovation remains tied up in litigation, and the fight over who has authority to determine the Kennedy Center’s future continues in federal court.
