***BREAKING NEWS*** Judge Blocks Trump Changing Name of Kennedy Center and Closure

[onenote]

39. actually, the case against the renaming and closure of the Kennedy Center mover pretty quickly

The case challenging the renaming of the Kennedy Center was decided pretty quickly, assuming one believes in the concept of due process -- i.e., giving litigants an opportunity to present their case.

Specifically, Trump's name was added to the Kennedy Center on or about December 18. Kennedy Center Trustee Joyce Beatty filed suit challenging the renaming on or about December 22 but didn't serve the defendants until December 29 and proof of service wasn't filed until January 7. The defendants' response to the complaint was due onn March 2 pursuant to the Federal Rules but before that deadline, Beatty consented to a two week extension that pushed the response deadline to March 16. Then, on March 6, Beatty filed an amended complaint along with a motion for a temporary restraining order. Her TRO request did not focus on the renaming but instead sought to prevent the Kennedy Center Trustees from keeping her from participating in actions relating to the Center as a voting trustee. That very same day Judge Cooper held a zoom scheduling conference regarding the TRO. Judge Cooper gave the defendants only four days to respond and Beatty one day after that to reply, with a hearing the day after that-- a fast schedule. Two days later - March 14 - Judge Cooper issued a 37 page written decision on the TRO, granting Beatty some of the relief she requested but not going so far as to hold she has a right to vote on matters before the board. On March 16, the defendants proposed a schedule for addressing plaintiffs preliminary injunction motion, including the issue the renaming and proposed closure of the Kennedy Center. Under the defendants' proposed schedule, briefing would be complete in early May; however, the judge adopted a more expedited schedule in which all briefing on the various issues would be complete by April 17. The date for a hearing on the various motions and issues, including cross motions for summary judgment, was set for April 28. Meanwhile, on March 23, a separate complaint challenging the board of trustees actions was filed by the DC Preservation League which was the subject of a hearing on April 29. That led Judge Cooper to set a May 11 deadline for the parties in Beatty's case to submit supplemental pleadings related the DC Preservation League case. While the Defendants sought to file an additional pleading on May 26, Judge Cooper refused to allow that pleading in an order issued on May 29 concurrent with his 94 page written order granting Beatty's summary judgment motion on the renaming and closure issues in the form of a permanent -- not preliminary -- injunction.

So from start to finish, in a case with multiple issues and the further complication of a separate related case filed three months after the renaming, Judge Cooper, issuing lengthy written orders, resolved the motion for a TRO in injunction in around 8 days after it was filed and a decision on cross motions for summary judgment a month after the hearing on those motions and less than 3 weeks after supplemental briefing occasioned by the filing of the second lawsuit by the DC Preservation League.