Opinion: Did a Judge’s Ruling Save the Kennedy Center—Or Condemn It?

Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty/Reuters D.C. Judge Christopher Cooper’s ruling—that Congress created the Kennedy Center and only Congress can authorize what comes next for the now nearly-shuttered building was a plot twist truly worthy of the theater after months of Trumpian showboating and intrigue at the renowned performing arts venue. Cooper, an Obama appointee, temporarily halted the planned two-year closure for renovations and gave President Trump two weeks to take his name off the building dedicated to the memory of John F. Kennedy, a beloved fallen president. At the Arts Club of Washington, a small concert venue, the group’s president declared in very distinct language that she was happy to introduce a soprano who had performed with “the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.” The audience whooped and hollered, said Kandy Stroud, who was there. A member of the Choral Arts Society who had performed many times at the Kennedy Center in the pre-Trump era, Stroud told the Daily Beast she felt “great relief” at Judge Cooper’s ruling . Read more at The Daily Beast.

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