The Kennedy Center's very survival is now part of a court fight over President Trump's name. In a court filing Monday, Justice Department lawyers argued that if renovations—and plans to add Trump's name to the building's facade—aren't allowed to go forward, the performing arts center may have to be demolished, NBC News reports.
- "Without those efforts, the Center will deteriorate further into an unsafe, decrepit structure that will be required to be taken down, with a determination to follow on what to build on the site, such as a large outdoor amphitheater overlooking the Potomac River that has been proposed, by some, for many years," Justice Department attorney Brantley T. Mayers wrote.
The filing follows another vote by a board dominated by Trump allies to close the venue for years of repair work—moves a federal judge has previously found were approved improperly. The same board has also twice backed adding Trump's name to the building's exterior and other sites, despite a ruling earlier this year that the center cannot be renamed to honor both Trump and John F. Kennedy.
- In Monday's filing, Justice Department lawyers wrote that the board "recognizes that President Trump's efforts and prestige provide the sole hope for the Center's financial survival, and structural renewal." They argued that "undisputed evidence" shows that without the "prominent recognition" of Trump's efforts, "donors will not contribute, and the Center will continue to be in a financial and structural death spiral. The Trump Administration, and President Donald J. Trump, should, therefore, be given the respect and dignity of acknowledgement."
- In the filing, lawyers described the center as a "financially insolvent facility, housed in a decrepit, dilapidated, crumbling building," per the AP.
Officials say the renovation would mostly update hidden infrastructure—citing corroded steel, failing fireproofing, and a cooling system from 1971 that hasn't worked in decades—with only modest visible changes. US District Judge Casey Cooper will hold a hearing Thursday on Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty's effort to block the inscription, which she argues would breach federal law, CNN reports. Beatty's lawyers have described the new attempt to add Trump's name as "a transparent attempt to effectuate the renaming in another guise," calling for a ruling to "put an end to this childish gambit." In his earlier ruling, Cooper said only Congress has the power to rename the center, NBC notes.
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