Judge refuses to pause removal of Trump name from Kennedy Center
A federal judge rejected the Kennedy Center board’s bid to keep Trump’s name on the Washington arts institution while it appeals.
By James Whitfield · Staff Writer
3 min read
A federal judge has kept in force an order requiring President Donald Trump’s name to be removed from the exterior of the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. The ruling matters because it blocks, for now, an attempt by the Trump-appointed board to preserve a renaming that the court had found unlawful.
US District Judge Christopher Cooper on Friday rejected the board’s request to reverse or pause his earlier order, according to Al Jazeera, Reuters and The Associated Press. That order required Trump’s name to be taken off the facade by Friday.
The Kennedy Center board had appealed after Cooper previously denied a stay, the news organisations reported. Its Thursday filing sought to keep the name in place while the dispute continued, but Cooper declined to grant that request.
Cooper ruled last month that adding Trump’s name to the outside of the performing arts centre was illegal, according to the report. The judge ordered the institution to remove the name from the building.
The dispute followed a leadership shake-up at the Kennedy Center. Trump removed the centre’s prior leadership and appointed a new board, which then named him chairman, according to Al Jazeera, Reuters and AP.
After Cooper’s earlier ruling, Trump criticised the decision in a 580-word social media post, the news organisations reported. In that post, Trump referred to himself in the third person and accused Cooper and what he called the “Radical Left” of preferring to see the centre “DIE” rather than let him remake it.
The centre had already begun changing its official materials before Friday’s ruling. A June 4 memo from the Kennedy Center’s Office of General Counsel told staff to use “The John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts” or “Kennedy Center” in email signatures, letterhead and other documents, according to the report.
The institution’s website also removed Trump’s name, Al Jazeera, Reuters and AP reported. Workers were seen putting up scaffolding in front of the Kennedy Center sign on Friday, according to an Associated Press photo caption cited with the report.
The Kennedy Center fight is part of a broader series of Trump-backed changes and proposed projects involving major sites in the US capital, according to the news organisations. Those plans include a large triumphal arch and a White House ballroom, and several of the efforts have drawn legal challenges.
The John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is one of Washington’s best-known cultural institutions. Friday’s decision leaves the court’s removal order in effect while the board’s broader legal challenge continues.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.