A federal judge in D.C. blocked the Trump administration from closing the Kennedy Center or formally changing its name but said capital repair work may continue.
Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, a Kennedy Center board of trustees member, filed a lawsuit in hopes of keeping the Trump administration from shutting down the performing arts center for two years, as News4 reported.
“Because Congresswoman Beatty has identified several irreparable harms that will flow from a two-year closure, and those harms outweigh any countervailing prejudice to the Defendants or the public, the Court will preliminarily enjoin the Defendants from effectuating the closure decision made at the March 16 Board meeting,” U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper wrote in a filing Friday.
“However, the preliminary injunction will not prevent the Center from moving forward with the capital repair work it has planned, which the record demonstrates is sorely needed. Nor will it categorically prohibit the Board from closing the Center should it come to this decision anew after independently balancing its multiple obligations to the Center in a prudent fashion,” Cooper continued.
The judge blocked the Trump administration from formally changing the name of the Kennedy Center.
“The Kennedy Center’s organic statute makes crystal clear that the Center is to be named for President Kennedy, and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board’s unilateral say-so. Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it,” he said.
President Donald Trump plans to close the cultural institution for two years for a major renovation slated to begin in July, funded by almost $257 million provided by Congress.
Stay with NBC Washington for more details on this developing story.
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