Kennedy Center board votes to return Trump’s name to venue’s facade
The Kennedy Center’s board of trustees on Thursday voted to put President Donald Trump’s name on the institution’s facade in Washington, D.C., testing the limits of a judge’s order on the matter.
The board voted to add the inscription “Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump” below the Kennedy Center sign, according to Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH), who sits on the board. The physical site outside the building is also set to be renamed “the President Donald J. Trump Plaza,” after Beatty said Thursday’s vote sought to “circumvent” U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper’s ruling blocking Trump’s name from being added to the Kennedy Center’s official title.
Beatty is the individual who brought a lawsuit challenging the center’s name change last December to “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”
Cooper, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, sided with Beatty in late May, ruling that the Kennedy Center’s board exceeded its authority when it unanimously voted to add Trump’s name to the center in December. The judge said congressional approval is required to change the institution’s name, meaning the center’s signage bearing Trump’s name must be removed. The judge also blocked the theater’s planned two-year closure for extensive renovations.
At the time, the Kennedy Center said it was complying with the court’s order “while evaluating all legal options to preserve this revitalization and recognize President Trump’s leadership.”
Beatty slammed the board after it appeared to seek to work around the ruling from Thursday’s vote and suggested it would revive the legal battle in court.
KENNEDY CENTER BOARD VOTES TO CLOSE FACILITY FOR TWO YEARS FOR CONSTRUCTION
“Today’s vote is more of the same, and a show of blatant disrespect to the courts,” two of Beatty’s attorneys, Norm Eisen and Nathaniel Zelinsky, wrote in the statement. “The court already ruled against the board when it bowed to Trump’s demands. Now, the defendants must answer for their actions—again—in court.”
In Thursday’s vote, the board also voted to close most of the center for two years. That is also set up to be legally challenged, as Cooper had blocked the theater’s planned two-year closure for extensive renovations in his May ruling.
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