Lawyers for the Trump administration told a federal judge that the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts desperately needs the major renovation ordered by President Donald Trump and raised the specter that it would need to be “taken down” if those plans are blocked.

In a court filing late Monday, Justice Department lawyers defended plans for the $250 million renovation project and described how, as recognition for the president’s role, an inscription of his name on the arts center’s marble facade would be appropriate.

“Without those efforts, the center will deteriorate further into an unsafe, decrepit structure that will be required to be taken down,” the filing said, “with a determination to follow on what to build on the site, such as a large outdoor amphitheater overlooking the Potomac River that has been proposed, by some, for many years.”

The suggestion was something of an aside in the Trump administration’s 21-page filing, which responded to an effort by a Democratic lawmaker to block the center from inscribing the president’s name on the building.

It was unclear how seriously any thought to knock down the building has been considered, but it was the most extreme measure that has been cited to support Trump’s contention that the Washington arts center needs a major overhaul that would force it to close for two years. Trump ordered the demolition of the White House’s East Wing last fall to make way for a luxury ballroom.

Such a decision at the Kennedy Center would be subject to legal challenges and objections from historical preservation groups.

The filing was part of the proceedings in a lawsuit by Rep. Joyce Beatty, an ex officio board member at the center who has fought to block its plans to close and conspicuously honor Trump. In a statement Tuesday, Nathaniel Zelinsky, a lawyer for Beatty, said the suggestion by Justice Department lawyers was a “not-so-subtle threat to demolish the Kennedy Center if the president doesn’t get his way.”

Judge Christopher R. Cooper of U.S. District Court in Washington, who is overseeing the case, ruled in May that the board’s decision to add Trump’s name to the center’s official title was unlawful. The center is appealing the decision, but in the interim, it removed the president’s name from the front of the building.

The judge also temporarily blocked the closure plans, ruling that the Trump-allied board needed to more seriously take into account its “obligation to both maintain and operate a premiere arts venue and its solemn duty to memorialize a fallen president.”

The filing by the administration Monday argued that allowing the center to move forward with the renovation as planned was crucial to that mission because if the building were taken down entirely, it would “fail to adequately honor President John F. Kennedy.” It noted, however, that an amphitheater would be “simpler and more economical to build, operate and maintain.”

This year, historical preservation and architectural groups asked Cooper to issue an order that expressly blocked the demolition of the center, noting that when the president had announced plans for the renovation, he used the words “complete rebuilding.” In declining to make such an order, the judge cited sworn testimony from Matt Floca, the center’s executive director, who said that no one at the center had plans to demolish the building.

Asked whether Trump could change his mind about that plan, Floca testified that “I am not in control of his personal decision-making.”

In her lawsuit, Beatty has argued that the closure plans may be a cover for the fact that since Trump’s takeover of the center, many audience members, artists and donors have fled an increasingly politicized institution. Citing internal financial projections at the center, The Washington Post reported Tuesday that ticket revenue and fundraising had plummeted after the board voted to add Trump’s name to the center, setting it up to fall nearly $100 million short of its revenue target this fiscal year.

Kennedy Center officials have blamed previous leadership for the institution’s financial troubles.

Justice Department lawyers wrote in the filing that Trump deserved to have his name inscribed on the building because of his role in securing $257 million from Congress to fund the renovations, and in marshaling a “new donor base” to finance an endowment for the center.

This month, the board approved two new inscriptions below the main Kennedy Center signage. The first would read “renovated and restored by President Donald J. Trump.” Beneath it, another inscription would say: “endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund.”

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Julia Jacobs/Jared Soares
c. 2026 The New York Times Company