A federal judge has ruled that President Donald Trump’s name be removed from the Kennedy Center. The decision also blocks Trump’s plan to close the building for two years for renovations.
Last year, the center’s board of trustees — many of whom were appointed by Trump — voted to rename the venue the Trump-Kennedy Center. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt made the renaming announcement in a December 18 social media post. “Congratulations to President Donald J. Trump, and likewise, congratulations to President Kennedy, because this will be a truly great team long into the future! The building will no doubt attain new levels of success and grandeur.”
In a May 29 ruling, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper stated that Trump’s name was not legally added. “The Court has concluded that the Board overstepped its statutory bounds by unilaterally renaming the Kennedy Center after President Trump,” Cooper wrote.
His decision noted that the name change lacked congressional approval. “May the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts be renamed absent Congressional authorization? The answer, plain from the face of the statute, is no. Nor can any other individual be memorialized on the front portico of the building,” Cooper wrote.
The ruling ordered that Trump’s name be removed from the exterior of the building within two weeks. It also said his name should be removed from “official materials” such as digital or physical signs.
Cooper’s decision also halted plans to close the Kennedy Center for two years for massive renovations. Trump announced in a February social media post that the facility would close in July “in honor of the 250th Anniversary of our Country, whereupon we will simultaneously begin Construction of the new and spectacular Entertainment Complex.”
Trump’s Response
Trump responded to Cooper’s ruling on social media. “A Barack Hussein Obama Judge named Christopher Cooper has stopped a magnificent structural and aesthetic rebuilding of The Trump Kennedy Center where Millions of Dollars of material, marble, furniture, steel, air conditioning, heating, and so much else was ordered, or soon to be ordered, with the end result being a structure that would no longer be in a potential state of collapse, rusted, rotted, and rat and bug infested, to one that would be the Finest anywhere in the World,” he posted.
Roma Daravi, vice president of public relations for the Kennedy Center, said that the venue is “confident that on appeal the court will uphold the Board’s will to recognize President Trump’s historic contributions to our nation’s cultural center,” AP reported.
Daravi said the Kennedy Center “requires an urgent and significant restoration” and the funds are in place to renovate, “With $257 million secured by President Trump and approved by Congress, the resources are in place and we remain committed to pursuing every lawful avenue to ensure the Trump Kennedy Center is restored as a national cultural landmark for all Americans to enjoy,” she said.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum would not commit to removing Trump’s name from the building despite the ruling. “I’m not sure if that’s going to be appealed or not, but I think, you know, there’s controversy on both sides of this about that ruling,” Burgum said on CNN’s State of the Union.
Feature image, avmedved/stock.adobe.com
