President Trump has asked a judge to remove his blockade and allow the full shutdown and renovation of the Kennedy Center, saying he’s fixed the problems that led to the court issuing an injunction earlier this year.
In a new legal filing Friday night, the Justice Department said the center’s board now has a full plan in place that includes continuing to offer some programming at other sites while the main building is shuttered.
Judge Christopher Cooper, in an order earlier this year, blocked any renovations from starting, saying the board didn’t fully think out its plans.
For good measure this week, he forbade the president from summarily demolishing the center, fearing a repeat of what happened with the White House’s East Wing last year.
Mr. Trump says the board has now done the extra work the judge required, with more evaluations and two more votes, including a final one Tuesday to embrace the full shutdown option.
In the new legal filing, the president and his team said delaying the renovation is causing “substantial uncertainty” about the center’s future.
“The center’s future hangs in the balance,” the government lawyers said in their filing. “The status quo — with the injunction in effect — has led only to increased safety risks, heightened uncertainty, resulted in undue expense, and led to an underused, unrepaired center with no meaningful ability to move to the next stage in its storied history.”
But even as the lawyers urge for speed, Mr. Trump himself has undercut that.
He has tied the renovations to his demand that his name be added to the center, and he has said he won’t allow construction to proceed until he gets his way.
Judge Cooper has twice blocked Mr. Trump’s name from being added, saying federal law makes the center the exclusive memorial of former President John F. Kennedy. He had to order the center to remove Mr. Trump’s name from the facade, where it had already been placed.
Mr. Trump has appealed Judge Cooper’s ruling and has said he will take the case to the Supreme Court to get his name attached.
Mr. Trump has argued that only a total closure can ensure the speed and safety needed to get the project done.
His opponents aren’t convinced, fearing the president will do something drastic to the iconic performing arts facility on the bank of the Potomac.
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