By Mike Scarcella
WASHINGTON, Sept 16 (Reuters) - A U.S. federal judge has ordered President Donald Trump's administration to explain whether the Kennedy Center's plan to close the performing arts venue for up to two years for repairs violates a court order limiting its ability to shut down.
Washington-based U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper directed the administration to respond by Thursday to claims in a lawsuit that the board's vote on Tuesday to proceed with the $257 million renovation project
would violate that order.
In a court filing on Wednesday, the plaintiff in the lawsuit, Democratic U.S. Representative Joyce Beatty, argued that the board vote ran afoul of the court's prior ruling. The board is chaired by Trump and controlled by his appointees.
Beatty said the Kennedy Center, which was established by Congress and opened in 1971 as a memorial to John F. Kennedy, is no longer accessible to the public during normal operating hours. New barriers were visible outside the building on Wednesday.
“The board cannot simply ignore Judge Cooper’s rulings whenever it suits them," Beatty’s lawyers, Norm Eisen and Nathaniel Zelinsky, said in a statement. "In this country, no one — including the president — is above the law.”
The White House and Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Justice Department, which is defending the Kennedy Center in court, also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The closure vote marks the latest flashpoint in the lawsuit, which Beatty filed last year over Trump’s effort to rename the center after himself. Beatty is a member of the Kennedy Center’s board by virtue of her position in the U.S. Congress.
Cooper’s order in May directed the Kennedy Center to remove Trump’s name from the building’s facade, saying only Congress can change the name.
The ruling blocked the center's earlier plan to shut down in July for renovation, saying its decision to do so "was taken in dereliction of the trustees’ duty of prudence." Cooper said he would not block the board from trying again to close the center as long as it made a "considered, independent decision."
Cooper in a new ruling on Tuesday rejected the center’s latest effort to put Trump’s name on the building to reflect his role in the planned renovation.
The administration has appealed, and Trump on social media said the Kennedy Center "is destined to doom" if it is not permitted to close for repairs.
(Reporting by Mike Scarcella; Editing by David Bario and Aurora Ellis)
