A federal judge issued an order on Tuesday prohibiting the board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts from placing President Donald Trump’s name on the institution’s main building or renaming its campus in his honor.
U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper wrote that the defendants lacked the authority to install such memorials without legislative action. “Simply put, Defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’s blessing,” Cooper stated in his ruling.
The decision followed a recent resolution passed by the center’s board on August 13, which sought to recognize what it described as Trump’s “existential and unprecedented contributions” to the organization’s survival. The board had previously attempted to add Trump’s name to the center’s official title after an earlier court ruling allowed them to proceed, prompting this latest legal challenge.
Cooper criticized the board’s actions, writing that the resolution “bucks a federal court order and a statute Congress enacted.”
Rep. Joyce Beatty, a Democrat from Ohio and an ex officio member of the Kennedy Center board, requested the injunction to block the effects of the August 13 resolution. A photograph from September 3 showed a tarp covering the facade of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., during a previous period when plans to add the president’s name were paused while the judge considered the challenge.
What happens now? Do they try again in Congress or let it drop?
The tarp photo from September is wild. They were clearly trying to rush this.
Wait, so the board already tried this once? This drama never ends, does it?
Congress should handle names, not boards. This ruling keeps politics out of cultural institutions.