The Kennedy Center’s board voted Tuesday to shut down the iconic performing arts facility, saying the building is collapsing and has become a danger.
The decision came just minutes after a federal judge ruled that the center cannot add President Trump’s name anywhere.
The board had said it cannot raise money for the expected two-year renovations without the president’s personal involvement — and suggested Mr. Trump won’t help unless his name joins former President John F. Kennedy.
But Judge Christopher Cooper, an Obama appointee to the court in Washington, said Mr. Trump’s name can’t go anywhere on the building or grounds.
“Simply put, defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’s blessing,” Judge Cooper wrote.
He put off a ruling on whether the closure violates one of his prior rulings, and urged the board and its opponents to try to work things out without needing the court’s intervention.
The Associated Press reported on the outcome of the board’s vote. The board is comprised chiefly of Trump loyalists who have largely bowed to his wishes when it comes to the facility.
In a draft resolution revealed earlier this week, the board had proposed an immediate two-year closure.
Some programming was to be shifted to a smaller theater on the center’s grounds and other offerings, such as National Symphony Orchestra performances or the Kennedy Center Honors, would continue at offsite locations.
Tuesday’s vote came a day after Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick posted a video on social media showing part of the ceiling in the grand foyer collapsing to the ground.
“If the Building were open, innocent people would have been killed,” Mr. Trump said on social media, reacting to the video.
The Kennedy Center is part of Mr. Trump’s broader plans to remake parts of Washington.
He’s already demolished the White House East Wing and has plans for a makeover of the golf course at West Potomac Park, and visions of a triumphal arch near the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery, just across the Potomac River from the Kennedy Center.
But Mr. Trump’s name has proved to be a sticking point at the Kennedy Center.
In one draft resolution which was withdrawn from consideration at Tuesday’s meeting, center officials said Mr. Trump wouldn’t help raise money to refurbish the facility unless his name joined Kennedy’s.
“The board understands that without such appropriate recognition it is unlikely that President Trump will provide the fundamental oversight of the renovation of the main building and lead the fiscal rescue of the center,” the proposed resolution said.
Judge Cooper earlier this year ordered the board to remove Mr. Trump’s name from the building, saying the law reserves the facility as an honor for Kennedy alone.
The board tried to circumvent that, proposing adding his name to a plaza and writing inscriptions crediting him with renovating and restoring the building.
Judge Cooper on Tuesday said those ideas all violate his orders.
The board had previously voted to shut the center down on July 4, in conjunction with the 250th commemoration of the Declaration of Independence. Judge Cooper had blocked that, ruling that the board didn’t follow its own rules and procedures in reaching its decision.
The board went back and did additional work to justify the closure leading up to Tuesday’s re-vote.
Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat who is an ex officio member of the Kennedy Center’s board, led the legal challenge to Mr. Trump.
She hailed Judge Cooper’s ruling barring Mr. Trump’s name.
“President Trump is holding the Kennedy Center hostage unless he can put his name on this sacred memorial,” she said in a statement. “This unlawfulness is as breathtaking as it is wrong, and it needs to stop.”
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