The exterior of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, a day after the Kennedy Center board voted to close the center for repairs, in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 16, 2026. REUTERS/Aaron Schwartz
Lawyers for President Donald Trump argued to a federal judge Thursday that the Kennedy Center has become so dangerous that 2,500-pound concrete slabs ringing the building pose an active falling hazard.
Minutes before a court-imposed deadline on Thursday, a response was filed in U.S. District Court, where the administration is fighting a demand for an emergency hearing.
Just a day before, Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH), who sits on the center's board, had asked for that hearing Wednesday, arguing the sudden closure defies a standing court order.
Lawyers for the Trump team claimed that an assessment by the engineering firm Walter P Moore found "more advanced deterioration in the overhead soffit panels than recently documented. They said the brief described it as an active falling hazard. The panels are concrete slabs that ring the building's entire exterior.
Although Trump said the center had to close unless his name was added to the building, government lawyers also pointed to a five-by-four-foot piece of ceiling plaster, an inch thick, that broke loose on Sept. 4 after severe storms.
"[T]he only emergency is the risk to the public and the Center's employees and artists if it remained fully open without further safety assessment," the Justice Department wrote.
Matt Floca, the center's executive director and chief operating officer, ordered the seven-day closure Wednesday morning over "acute risks to public safety resulting from continued structural deterioration at the Center," according to the filing.
"For a long time now, we have seen warnings about the life-safety risks presented by the building's deteriorating infrastructure," Floca wrote to staff Wednesday afternoon. No one was hurt when the plaster fell, he wrote, "but we cannot afford to risk another serious safety incident."
"No part of the Court's preliminary injunction order forbids a temporary closure like this one," the brief said.
Beatty's emergency motion called the shutdown "unexplained and unlawful." Her lawyers warned the administration could be moving to lock the public out before the court can rule.
"It is possible Defendants intend to undertake immediate steps in order to make public access practically impossible for the foreseeable future," her lawyers wrote.
The closure came a day after U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper barred the board from putting Trump's name on the building or its grounds, CNBC reported.
Trump announced the board's closure vote hours later on Truth Social.
"The closing will take place immediately, however, the Renovation and Reconstruction, which is a very large and complex job, cannot begin until such time as the D.C. Circuit rules on the Board's approved name," he wrote.
If the appeals court ruled against him and the Supreme Court did not overturn it, Trump wrote, the work "will not take place."
Justice Department lawyers said they will ask Cooper to lift his injunction by Friday, and that Floca would testify in person if the judge holds a hearing.