A federal judge has ruled that President Trump’s name must be removed from the Kennedy Center, ordering that the rebranding of the Washington, D.C., performing arts venue as the “Trump Kennedy Center” violates federal law.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper also ruled that Trump cannot close the center’s doors for lengthy renovations unless Congress approves the plans.
In a social media post Friday evening responding to the ruling, Trump said he has “no interest” in continuing his overhaul of the Kennedy Center. He said he wants to turn decision-making about the future of the center over to Congress.
“Unless I am free to do what I do better than anyone else, bring this Institution back, physically, financially, and artistically, I have no interest in continuing what could only be a hopeless journey into ‘NEVER NEVER LAND,'” Trump said.
What the Judge Ruled
Cooper wrote that the administration “violated the Kennedy Center’s organic statute in purporting to rename the Center for President Trump, and in taking steps to effectuate that official renaming, such as installing signage with Donald J. Trump’s name on the front portico of the Center, altering the Center’s website to name the Center for President Trump, and in issuing official materials naming the Center for President Trump.”
He ordered Trump’s name removed from the building within two weeks.
“Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it,” Cooper wrote.
Congress created the famed cultural institution in a federal statute, designating it as a living memorial in 1964 shortly after President John F. Kennedy’s death.
The Board’s ‘Ill-Informed’ Decision
Cooper also blasted the Kennedy Center’s Board of Trustees — which Trump now chairs and has filled with his own appointees — for making an “ill-informed” and “seemingly preordained” decision to close the center for two years starting in July for major renovations.
“The current record reveals that the Board rendered this ill-informed and seemingly preordained decision without regard for how it would accomplish its full array of statutory responsibilities,” Cooper wrote.
Trump announced in December that the board had voted “unanimously” to rename the building. Workers added signage with his name shortly after.
The Reaction
The changes are being challenged in court by Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty, who sits on the Kennedy Board of Trustees as one of its ex officio members.
“Today’s ruling rightly affirms that this administration’s efforts to rename and close the Center have no basis in law,” Beatty said in a statement. “The Kennedy Center is an institution that belongs to the American people, not to Donald Trump. He has desecrated this sacred memorial for his own vanity.”
The Trump administration has defended the renovation as fulfilling the board’s “responsibilities to repair and improve the Center.”
The Bottom Line
A federal judge ordered President Trump’s name removed from the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., ruling that only Congress can rename the venue. The judge also blocked Trump’s plan to close the center for two years without congressional approval, calling the board’s decision “ill-informed” and “seemingly preordained.” Trump said he has “no interest” in continuing his overhaul and wants Congress to take over.
