Judge blocks Trump Kennedy Center name change a second time
A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Kennedy Center’s latest attempt to inscribe President Trump’s name on the building and to rename the campus after him. It is the second time the judge has stopped the effort.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that the Kennedy Center board cannot move forward without “Congress’s blessing,” finding that an August vote on the renaming likely violated his earlier injunction.
“The board resolution bucks a federal court order and a statute Congress enacted,” Cooper, an Obama appointee, wrote in a 22-page opinion.
“The law is extremely clear: The John F. Kennedy Center is named for President Kennedy, and no one else,” Beatty said in a statement. “But President Trump is holding the Kennedy Center hostage unless he can put his name on this sacred memorial. The Court just rejected this proposal for the second time. This unlawfulness is as breathtaking as it is wrong, and it needs to stop.”
The board voted last month on a resolution to again add Trump’s name, this time in two inscriptions reading: “renovated and restored by President Donald J. Trump” and “endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund.”
Cooper ruled in late May that Trump’s name must be removed from the building’s facade, concluding the board’s decision was unlawful because only Congress had authority to change the name.
The Justice Department argued the board was not attempting a renaming but seeking to recognize the president’s fundraising role, describing him as its “sole hope” for long-term survival.
Officials have indicated the Kennedy Center faces “certain fiscal collapse” if unable to publicly recognize Trump’s contributions, warning it could be weeks away from being unable to meet payroll or fulfill routine maintenance contracts.
Several attempts by the Justice Department to pause Cooper’s order were unsuccessful, and lettering bearing Trump’s name was stripped in the early morning hours of June 13. It was simultaneously covered with a tarp, obscuring the change from public view.
Cooper’s second ruling came down just before the board was set to meet again Tuesday afternoon to decide on whether to immediately close the facility for repairs and renovations.
