WASHINGTON — A federal judge blocked the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts from adding President Donald Trump's name below the sign on the facade of the building, ruling the move violates a prior order to remove the president's name from the center's name and signage.
U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper, in a Tuesday, Sept. 15 order, ruled the Kennedy Center board's plans to add an inscription on the building that says "renovated and restored by Donald J. Trump" cannot move forward.
"Simply put, Defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’s blessing," Cooper wrote in the 22-page order. "The board resolution bucks a federal court order and a statute
Congress enacted."
The Kennedy Center's board of trustees had been scheduled to vote on adding Trump's name with an honorary inscription on Tuesday. But the federal government attorneys informed the court late Monday the board has shelved the proposal from its September meeting agenda.
A draft resolution originally prepared for the board to consider proposed 10 different wordings and phrases to recognize Trump's financial support for the center with an inscription below the center's main exterior sign.
It was an attempt to skirt around Cooper's order in May to remove Trump's name from the center following Trump's attempted takeover of the iconic institution. The resolution, drafted by Trump-aligned Kennedy Center officials, warned Trump would not lead the "fiscal rescue" of the center from potential bankruptcy unless his name was added to the building.
Yet at a Tuesday court hearing earlier in the day, Cooper pressed Justice Department attorneys whether a trust, like the Kennedy Center, can even file for bankruptcy. The attorneys said they did not have an answer.
"Before throwing around these concepts, I would suggest knowing the answer to these questions," Cooper said.
The board still plans to vote Tuesday on closing the bulk of the center immediately for the next two years to undergo renovations. Yet whether it can remain closed will ultimately be decided by Cooper as the judge weighs a motion from the government to vacate a preliminary injunction he previously granted the plaintiffs.
Cooper in May ordered the removal of Trump's name from the center's title, signage and branding, ruling the board's March renaming of the facility after Trump violated the 1964 federal law that created the center in honor of President John F. Kennedy. He also blocked the board's March vote to close the center for two years for renovations, arguing the action the board lacked enough information to make the decision.
The Kennedy Center on June 13 complied with the judge's directive to remove Trump's name from the building's sign, but not until hours after a court deadline passed. The center's Trump-aligned staff left up a massive tarp that prevents the public from seeing the sign without Trump's name. The tarp remains over the facade of the center.
Justice Department attorneys have argued the judge in March did not rule the Kennedy Center can't close for renovations, but simply objected to the board's hastily conducted March vote to close it. Trump and the Kennedy Center are now citing an outside consulting group that identified leaks and other disrepairs to justify the temporary closure.
At Tuesday's court hearing, Cooper told the government's attorneys that nothing from his previous order prevents them from conducting routine maintenance work.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Judge blocks Kennedy Center's plan to add Trump's name back on building
