Order also addresses demolition threat, Beatty scaffolding dispute
A federal judge on Tuesday rejected the Kennedy Center board’s plan to return President Donald Trump’s name to the building, finding that the board could not memorialize a president without congressional approval.
“Simply put, defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’ blessing,” U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper wrote in his order.
Cooper rejected both elements of the board’s August vote: returning Trump’s name to the building’s facade as part of a statement honoring Trump for proposed renovations, and renaming the physical grounds “The President Donald J. Trump Plaza.” Cooper wrote that the Justice Department, which has defended the board’s actions in court, supplied “no proof that current or future donations hinge on President Trump’s being on the building” and “no competent proof that removing the Trump name would prevent the center from fulfilling its artistic mission.”
The board — whose members were all appointed by Trump after he dismissed the previous board — told colleagues Monday that the center was facing bankruptcy and could close as soon as Tuesday, with members saying the only way to save the center from closure was to add Trump’s name to the building and that the president’s fundraising support was contingent on “appropriate recognition.” The Justice Department has separately threatened to demolish the center if the Trump-ordered renovations do not take place.
Cooper wrote that the board’s latest attempt “bucks a federal court order and a statute Congress enacted.” “And yet the drama at the Kennedy Center continues,” he added.
The dispute dates to December, when the board — which had elected Trump chairman — first voted to add the president’s name to the building. Trump said the name change was a surprise, but his name was added to the center the next day.
A number of artists and shows set to appear at the center canceled after Trump’s name was added to the building, while others said they would no longer accept invitations to perform there. Cooper ruled in May that Trump’s name must be removed from the center.
The board complied at the very end of the court-ordered deadline in June. Tarps and scaffolding at the site still block the view of the center’s name, and Cooper requested an explanation for their presence in late June.
In an August filing, Kennedy Center lawyers said the scaffolding and tarps remained to facilitate renovation work on the soffits, or eaves, of the building. Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, who led the lawsuit against the Kennedy Center renaming, said in a response that the explanation “falls apart under scrutiny.”
“The soffits are some 20 feet or more above the scaffolding,” Beatty wrote. She said the center’s pattern of leaving up scaffolding only where it obscured the building’s name is “a strong indication that this structure has nothing to do with the roof and is, instead, meant to defy a return to the status quo.”
Danielle Haynes contributed to this report.