Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH) asked a federal judge for an emergency hearing Wednesday after the Kennedy Center abruptly closed its doors despite an order barring President Donald Trump and the center’s board from shutting it down.
“It seems Defendants may be violating the ‘clear and unambiguous order of the Court,’” Beatty’s attorneys wrote in the newly filed motion.
According to the filing, a law firm staffer attempted to enter the Kennedy Center around 10:15 a.m., during its posted operating hours, but security personnel said the building was closed to the public.
The staffer was also told that interior construction was beginning and visitors were barred for “safety reasons,” Beatty said in her motion.
Kennedy Center spokesperson Roma Daravi confirmed the closure, saying that “compounding systemic infrastructure failures from decades of neglect” had created safety concerns requiring the building to immediately close, the filing added.
“Given the unexplained and unlawful closure, it is possible Defendants intend to undertake immediate steps in order to make public access practically impossible for the foreseeable future,” Beatty’s attorneys argued in the four-page document. “Including by demolishing public avenues of access to the building, and thereby evade the Court’s order by fait accompli.”
The board voted to close the center, but U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper previously blocked that decision unless the court modifies or dissolves its injunction.
Beatty is requesting that a senior Kennedy Center official be ordered to attend the emergency hearing "to address this apparent violation of the Court’s order."