By Mike Scarcella
WASHINGTON, April 29 (Reuters) – A coalition of historic preservation and architecture groups will ask a judge on Wednesday to halt plans by President Donald Trump’s administration for a major renovation of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, marking the latest clash over Trump’s legal authority to reshape Washington.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper in Washington will hold a hearing at 10 a.m. Eastern Time (1400 GMT) to consider issuing a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit filed in March by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the American Institute of Architects and six other groups.
The groups contend Trump and the Kennedy Center’s board lack the legal authority to proceed with their construction plans on the famed performing arts venue without U.S. congressional approval and mandatory regulatory review.
“It is a city upon a hill. It should not — and by federal law cannot — be demolished or overhauled in secret or at lightning speed, and certainly not at the executive’s personal whim,” the plaintiffs told Cooper.
TRUMP AIMS TO RESHAPE MONUMENTS
The judge has allowed the preservation groups and the Trump administration to question Matthew Floca, the Trump-appointed executive director of the Kennedy Center.
Trump’s plan to renovate the center, which he has already rebranded to include his name in its title and affixed to the building, is part of the Republican leader’s broader push to reshape Washington’s monumental core. He also intends to erect a 250-foot (76-meter) arch and build a 90,000-square-foot ballroom at the site of the demolished East Wing of the White House.
Those other efforts are also facing court challenges. A federal appeals court has allowed the Trump administration to move ahead with building the ballroom as it considers the case.
In the Kennedy Center lawsuit, the administration told Cooper in a court filing that the planned work is limited to the existing buildings and grounds, and that Congress last year effectively authorized the project by appropriating $256.7 million for renovation.
The plaintiffs contend the appropriation was limited to “necessary expenses for capital repair, restoration, maintenance backlog, and security structures.”
Last year, Trump said the Kennedy Center, dedicated as a memorial to former Democratic President John F. Kennedy, was in “tremendous disrepair.”
(Reporting by Mike Scarcella; Editing by David Bario and Rod Nickel)
