Judge Blocks Kennedy Center Demolition Without 30-Day Notice as Trump Renews Threat

A federal judge ruled Thursday that the Kennedy Center's board cannot demolish or replace any part of the performing arts complex without giving 30 days' advance notice to the court, intervening hours after President Trump renewed his threat to have the building "ripped down."

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper's order capped a turbulent week for the Washington institution. On Tuesday, the Kennedy Center's Trump-appointed board voted to close the building immediately, citing what a trustee briefing called "dire" financial and structural conditions: a nearly $23 million deficit, roughly $100 million in lost projected revenue from declining ticket sales and donations, and a section of ceiling that fell after a recent storm. The center's chief financial officer, Donna Kauranen, resigned the same day. Executive Director Matt Floca described the shutdown as "temporary," driven by public-safety concerns.

Trump told reporters the board voted "almost unanimously" to close the building "for Safety reasons, and so that it can begin the process of Reconstruction." On Wednesday he went further, saying the center "will end up being ripped down" unless his name appears on the main building, and described the venue, without offering evidence, as having lost "hundreds of millions" of dollars.

A separate fight over the name

The demolition threat is entangled with a lawsuit brought by Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, an ex officio Kennedy Center trustee, who sued Trump, Kennedy Center officials and board members in December seeking to stop efforts to attach the president's name to the building. Cooper ruled this week that the board cannot rename the center or add Trump's name without an act of Congress, writing that Congress alone gave the institution its name and Congress alone can change it. The Justice Department has said it will appeal.

Beatty told reporters Trump reacted to that loss by berating her in a private meeting, calling her "dumb" and "incompetent," and she has separately asked Cooper for an emergency hearing to block the closure outright, calling it "unlawful." She also submitted to the court photographs that appear to show Trump aboard Air Force One examining a placard reading "Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED," alongside a transcript of his "ripped down" remarks.

Cooper's Thursday order, reported first by NPR, stopped short of blocking the closure itself but required the board to notify the court and Beatty's legal team before any demolition or new construction begins, and to file a detailed status report on its plans by next Wednesday. The judge also directed the board to alert the court immediately if it reverses its stated position that no demolition is planned.

The Kennedy Center opened in 1971 as the nation's living memorial to President John F. Kennedy and is home to the National Symphony Orchestra, the Washington National Opera and the annual Kennedy Center Honors. Its board has been reshaped since Trump removed most Biden-era appointees and installed himself as chairman in February. A separate suit filed in May by eight architecture and preservation groups, including the American Institute of Architects, challenges the board's authority to alter the building.

The dispute now turns to next Wednesday's court-ordered status report, with the center's near-term operating status, and the fate of its facade, still unresolved.