Lawmaker Asks Court to Block Trump From Closing Kennedy Center

The president has said he plans to shut down the center for two years starting this summer for a “complete rebuilding.”


“President Trump’s own words indicate that he is planning to demolish the existing Kennedy Center building,” says a lawsuit by Representative Joyce Beatty, Democrat of Ohio. Eric Lee for The New York Times

By Luke Broadwater
Reporting from Washington
March 6, 2026

Representative Joyce Beatty, Democrat of Ohio, asked a federal court on Friday to block President Trump’s plan to close the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for two years starting this summer for what Mr. Trump has called a “complete rebuilding.”

Ms. Beatty, an ex officio member of the center’s board who has already sued Mr. Trump seeking to remove his name from the venue, amended her lawsuit, warning that Mr. Trump could be planning a surprise demolition of the center.

“President Trump’s own words indicate that he is planning to demolish the existing Kennedy Center building,” said Ms. Beatty’s suit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. “To state the obvious, Congress has not authorized either closing the center or conducting a ‘complete rebuilding.’”

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