Judge rules Kennedy Center board cannot put Trump's name on building again
The Kennedy Center board, which is filled with President Trump's allies, is set to vote Tuesday on a new plan to close the center for two years of renovations.
A federal judge in Washington has once more prevented the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Board of Trustees from adding President Trump's name to the building, citing that the resolution contravenes both a federal court order and a statute enacted by Congress. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper sided with Representative Joyce Beatty, a Democrat and a board member, who had challenged the Trump administration's actions last year.
Beatty contended that the board's recent actions to recognize the president are in violation of federal law.
According to Cooper's 22-page opinion, the defendants are prohibited from inscribing "renovated and restored by Donald J. Trump" on the main building or renaming the campus "President Donald J. Trump Plaza." The judge emphasized that the board resolution contravenes both a federal court order and a statute enacted by Congress. While Cooper declined to rule on whether the inscription of "endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund" could be placed on the building, he found that Beatty had not demonstrated the phrase would be placed on the building imminently.
The board, chaired by Trump and composed of his Cabinet members and allies, approved a resolution in August that proposed inscribing "Renovated and Restored by President Donald J. Trump" under the center's name on the building and adding "Endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund" if a $100 million fundraising goal was met. The resolution also called for the Kennedy Center's grounds to be named the "President Donald J. Trump Plaza."
During the emergency motion's arguments, Beatty's lawyer, Nathaniel Zelinsky, described the board's vote to again add Trump's name as "deja vu" and an act of "outright defiance" of Cooper's earlier order barring the center's closure and ordering Trump's name removal from the building.
The Trump administration has appealed that earlier ruling. The Justice Department argued in court last month that there is no renaming, maintaining that the proposed inscriptions were intended to honor Trump due to his ongoing and future fundraising efforts for the $257 million congressional stipend earmarked for a significant renovation project backed by the White House.
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