Topline
The Kennedy Center’s board of trustees—who were handpicked by President Donald Trump—late on Thursday filed a legal challenge against a federal judge’s ruling ordering the removal of Trump’s name from the face of the building and halting their plan to close down the center for planned renovations.
The Kennedy Center board voted to file an emergency appeal seeking to block the order requiring the removal of Trump’s name from the performing arts center.
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Key Facts
In a federal court filing, the board of trustees said it had voted on Thursday to appeal the earlier ruling to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and requested a stay of the judge’s order pending the appellate court’s consideration of the matter.
The board’s decision to appeal the ruling is a reversal of its earlier efforts to comply with it, including removing Trump’s name from all literature, signage and website.
The earlier ruling by Federal Judge Christopher Cooper had set Friday as the deadline for removing Trump’s name from the large signage on the facade of the building.
“Hands off the Arts”, an activist group that has protested the addition of Trump’s name to the Kennedy Center, is running a livestream of a camera pointed at the building’s front signage, hoping to capture the removal process.
The camera is mounted on a balcony of the Watergate complex and at the time of publishing, the altered sign, which reads “The Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Center,” remains in place.
Chief Critic
The suit against Trump’s handpicked Kennedy Center board was brought by Democracy Defenders Action and the Washington Litigation Group on behalf of Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio. In a statement on social media, Democracy Defenders Action co-founder and board member Norm Eisen wrote: “Trump installed a hand-picked board who turned around & illegally put his name on the Kennedy Center. We sued and won—only Congress can rename the Center. They can try to delay the inevitable, but they can’t change the law.”
Tangent
On its Instagram stories, the “Hands off the Arts” group shared photos of the Kennedy Center’s red shuttle buses, which showed that Trump’s name had been removed from their signage on Thursday.
key background
Late last month, Cooper ruled that Trump’s name cannot be added to the Kennedy Center without an act of Congress. The judge then ordered Trump’s name to be removed from the building within two weeks and also blocked the officials from proceeding with their plan to shut down the center for renovations. In his ruling, Cooper noted the 1964 law establishing the center for performing arts “makes crystal clear that the Center is to be named for President Kennedy,” and no other names can be added without Congressional approval. Last year, Trump fired President Joe Biden’s appointees to the board, and his handpicked replacements voted to make him the board’s chair, in an unprecedented move. The board later voted unanimously to rename the building to recognize Trump’s purported efforts “in saving the building.” The renaming prompted a series of boycotts as several prominent artists and groups refused to perform at the center.
further reading
Judge Blocks Trump’s Effort To Rename Kennedy Center After Himself (Forbes)