Judge on Friday orders president’s removal Donald TrumpName of Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, ruling that iconic washington The venue shall not be renamed without the following actions congress.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper in Washington directed the Trump administration to remove all physical signage bearing Trump’s name within 14 days and remove any mention of the “Trump Kennedy Center” from official materials.
“The Kennedy Center’s articles of association expressly provide that the center will be named after President Kennedy and that no other official name or public memorial may be used at the unilateral discretion of the Board of Trustees,” Cooper wrote. “The Kennedy Center’s name was given by Congress, and only Congress can change it.”
“The court did not intend to prescribe how the center would be operated, nor to establish any specific plan for the construction, closure or other development of the institution,” the judge added. Cooper ruled in a lawsuit filed by Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, who serves on the Kennedy Center board by virtue of her standing in Congress.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Trump plans to renovate the center as part of the Republican leader’s broader effort to reshape Washington’s monumental core. He also plans to build a 250-foot (76-meter) arch and build a 90,000-square-foot ballroom on the site of the demolished White House East Wing. Those efforts also face court challenges. A federal appeals court has allowed the Trump administration to continue building the ballroom while the case is heard. (Reporting by Mike Scarcella; Editing by Chizu Noyama and Edmund Klarman)
