Updated
Updated · CNBC · Sep 16
Judge Orders Trump to Answer Beatty's Kennedy Center Closure Challenge by Thursday
Updated
Updated · CNBC · Sep 16

Judge Orders Trump to Answer Beatty's Kennedy Center Closure Challenge by Thursday

3 articles · Updated · CNBC · Sep 16

Summary

  • Judge Christopher Cooper ordered Trump and the Kennedy Center board to respond by Thursday morning after Rep. Joyce Beatty sought an emergency hearing over the center's immediate closure.
  • Beatty says the shutdown violates Cooper's May injunction, which barred any closure until the board approved one consistent with his ruling and the court modified that order.
  • A lawyer for Beatty was turned away Wednesday and told the building was closed to the public and interior construction had begun for safety reasons.
  • The closure followed a board vote Tuesday to shut the center for renovations, while Trump said reconstruction would wait until an appeals court or the Supreme Court lets his name be included officially.
  • The fight extends a broader naming dispute: Cooper ruled Tuesday that the board cannot restore Trump's name to the building or create Trump memorials there without Congress.

Insights

Could the sudden, unauthorized closure of the Kennedy Center mask a deeper crisis than just a collapsing ceiling?