The board of trustees at the Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., said it wants to pause efforts to remove Trump’s name from the facility while the case concerning its naming plays out in higher courts. Photo by Aaron Schwartz/UPI | License Photo
A federal judge on Friday denied an appeal by the board of trustees at the Kennedy Center seeking to keep President Donald Trump’s name on the venue.
Board members had filed a last-minute appeal Thursday, one day before the deadline by which the venue was required to remove the president’s name, The New York Times reported.
U.S. District Judge Casey Cooper for the District of Columbia on May 29 had ordered the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts to remove Trump’s name. That order also blocked plans to shutter the venue for two years for renovations.
The Kennedy Center’s board of trustees voted in December to add Trump’s name to the building. The decision came less than a year after Trump dismissed the entire board and named new board members, who in turn elected him chairman.
“Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it,” Cooper wrote.
Kennedy Center lawyers sent a memo June 4 ordering staff to remove all references to Trump from signs, brochures, websites, furniture and other places in accordance with Cooper’s ruling. On Monday, the president’s name had been taken down from the Kennedy Center’s website and YouTube page.
Roma Daravi, vice president of public relations, told The Hill that the center was complying with the order “while evaluating all legal options to preserve this revitalization and recognize President Trump’s leadership.”
The board said it wanted to halt any further compliance with Cooper’s order while the case plays out in higher courts, CNN reported.
Lawyers said changing the name now only for a higher court to allow Trump’s name to stay would waste “time and money.”
“Moreover, requiring a name change now, only to potentially revert back to the current name after appeal … would be incredibly confusing for the public.”
A federal appeals court could still block the removal order.
CNBC reported that workers had set up scaffolding next to the facade of the venue Friday, presumably in preparation for removing the signage.
This week in Washington
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters about restoring commercial fishing access to areas of the Pacific during a signing ceremony in the Oval Office of the White House on Thursday. Photo by Jim Lo Scalzo/UPI | License Photo
