Sept. 16 (UPI) — Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, asked a federal judge on Wednesday for an emergency hearing on the closure of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
The center’s board of trustees, who were hand-picked by U.S. President Donald Trump, voted Tuesday to close the center not long after the same judge ruled that they could not put Trump’s name back on the building.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, in response, ordered the Trump administration to answer questions about the building’s status by 10a.m. ET Thursday, CNN reported.
Despite the board’s vote, closure violates a court order requiring it remain open while Beatty’s lawsuit over the center’s name continues, her request said. Cooper said he will schedule “a prompt hearing” depending on the administration’s response Thursday.
The requested hearing is just the latest move in the saga, which started when Trump dismissed the prior board last year and chose new members, who then elected him chairman.
That board voted in December to add Trump’s name to the center, but Cooper ruled in May that the name had to be removed because only Congress has the authority to change it. The board then planned to return the name in another capacity, but Cooper ruled Tuesday that the plan still violated the law.
The board then voted to close the center for renovations. Trump said in a social media post that the closure is for “safety reasons” but also said the renovations will not start — and the building will not reopen — until his name is returned to the building.
The Justice Department has said that it will appeal the earlier decision that it must remain open by Friday.
Beatty, an ex officio member of the center’s board, said a member of her legal team requested access to the center Wednesday and was denied. CNN reported that there were fences and barricades over the doors on Wednesday but no signage indicating closure.
The filing Wednesday said that personnel at the center told Beatty’s staff member that construction was starting on the inside of the building.
Beatty’s lawyers, Norm Eisen and Nathaniel Zelinsky, said in a statement that closing the center without Cooper’s approval as cited in his order is “an assault on the rule of law,” CNBC reported.
“The board cannot simply ignore Judge Cooper’s rulings whenever it suits them,” they said. “In this country, no one — including the president — is above the law.”
Source: U.S. News
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