The Trump administration told a federal judge late Friday that the Kennedy Center will remain open past July 5 but will not book new shows or hire additional staff, leaving the venue's future programming to a board vote scheduled for mid-July.

In a joint status report, government lawyers laid out three options the board will consider: a full closure, a partial closure with limited programming, or phased closures with a full performance slate, while Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, urged the court to require weekly compliance updates and open discovery.

The filing in Beatty v. Trump responded to a June 16 order from U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, who in late May blocked the board's March 16 vote to shutter the center for two years and ordered President Donald Trump's name removed from the building.

Cooper left the board free to reconsider closure after a more deliberative review, but barred any further steps to carry out the original shutdown.

Justice Department attorneys said management will present the board with three paths: a "full closure" with no programming, a "partial closure" allowing "some continued public access and limited programming in spaces unaffected" by repair work, or a "highly limited series of phased closures" addressing only the most serious infrastructure needs while maintaining a full slate of shows.

Capital repairs are projected to run from July through December 2026.

The government argued Cooper's preliminary injunction "did not affirmatively require the Board to reschedule programming that had previously been canceled or to seek new programming," and said management "has not yet taken any affirmative steps related to programming or staffing" while awaiting the board vote.

Executive Director Matt Floca told the court that the building will continue to provide public access to the John F. Kennedy memorial exhibit, National Symphony Orchestra rehearsals, and educational and community outreach programming.

Beatty's lawyers urged the court to read the injunction differently, writing that the administration's filing "confirms that they plan to turn the Kennedy Center into a lifeless husk" and that "absent action on Defendants' part, the Kennedy Center will have no meaningful operations after July 5, 2026."

They cited the recent final performance of "Shear Madness," the long-running interactive show, and uncertainty over the National Symphony Orchestra's coming season as evidence the shutdown was being implemented "by inertia."

Beatty also asked Cooper to deny the government's request to delay its answer to the complaint pending appeal, to begin discovery, and to require sworn declarations on two unresolved matters: a scaffolding and tarp assembly still covering the front portico where Trump's name had been mounted, and a separately incorporated "Trump Kennedy Center" foundation cited in a recent D.C. Circuit stay motion as a potential source of conditional donations tied to the naming dispute.

Cooper must now decide whether to grant the government's requested pause or impose tighter reporting requirements. The board's mid-July vote will determine whether the Kennedy Center reopens as a working venue, undergoes a full two-year shutdown for the second time, or operates somewhere in between while repairs proceed.