Employees stand in an elevator at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington in front of the newly added letters of President Donald Trump’s name on its facade, Dec. 19, 2025, one day after the board of directors announced the center would be renamed.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
A federal judge ruled Saturday that Democratic lawmakers have the right to sit on a board discussing President Donald Trump’s plan to close the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for two years of renovations.
But the judge did not force the board to allow Ohio Rep. Joyce Beatty, an ex-officio member through her position in Congress, to vote in Monday’s session.
She filed a lawsuit to prevent the Trump administration from excluding her from a meeting where board members are scheduled to decide whether to approve the Republican president’s proposal to close the center during a construction project.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper concluded that the board must provide Beatty with documents regarding the closure and renovation plans because withholding that information before a vote would preclude him from performing his duties as a trustee. He said she must also be allowed to speak at the meeting.
“But the court found that, at least at this very early stage, Beatty did not carry the burden of voting rights,” Cooper said. The judge said that allowing her to participate and engage in the deliberations would mean that “the marginal harm to her from not voting would be far less because she would be able to challenge the record and would have the opportunity to persuade her colleagues of her position.”
Beatty and the Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the ruling.
After hearing Cooper’s arguments on Thursday, Beatty told reporters he came to court to defend the rule of law and democracy.
“We want to know where your money, our money, is being spent,” she said outside the courthouse.
Nathaniel Zelinsky, Mr. Beatty’s lawyer, said the White House has a pattern of trying to stifle dissent at meetings like the one scheduled for Monday.
“We’re not asking for anything out of the ordinary,” he told the judge. “It’s my friends who are asking you to deviate from the norm.”
Mr. Cooper asked Justice Department attorney William Jankowski to explain why the government was reluctant to provide Mr. Beatty with details of the visitation plan.
“Why don’t you give her the information?” the judge asked. “How will the government be affected?”
Jankowski said that information, likely a work in progress, should be provided to Beatty and other conference participants by Monday.
“Action isn’t final until it’s final,” he told Cooper.
Breaking with tradition, Trump paid little attention to the Kennedy Center during his first term, skipping all four honors programs during the year after threatening to boycott some honorees if they attended gala events in 2017, his first year in office.
However, since returning to office in January 2025, he has shown far more interest in running performing arts centers than any other recent president. Mr. Trump nominated loyal allies such as Attorney General Pam Bondi and longtime aide Dan Scavino to the board to replace members he did not appoint, and the reconstituted board later elected him chairman.
President Trump was personally involved in selecting the artists to be recognized as 2025 Kennedy Center Laureates and hosted the program. He was unhappy with the building’s appearance and secured $257 million from Congress for the Kennedy Center in the tax cuts and spending bill he signed last summer.
Richard Grenell, an ally whom President Trump appointed to head the center, criticized the Kennedy Center’s finances. President Trump announced Friday that Mr. Grenell would resign and be replaced by Matt Floca, who manages facilities operations at the Kennedy Center. The move is expected to be finalized at Monday’s board meeting.
The building has been in trouble since President Trump stepped up his involvement in its operations. Many artists canceled performances and audience numbers decreased.
In December, the board voted to add Trump’s name to Kennedy’s on the building’s exterior, which was implemented the next day, sparking outrage from some in Kennedy’s family.
In February, the president announced on social media that the Kennedy Center would close for two years starting July 4 for renovations, subject to board approval.
