Emergency Appeal Asks Federal Court to Keep Trump’s Name Off Kennedy Center

A federal court received an emergency appeal Thursday seeking to block the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts from restoring President Donald Trump’s name to the building. 

The Kennedy Center board, led by Trump and largely composed of his allies, voted earlier this month to engrave the president’s name beneath the signage on the venue’s facade, which would read: “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump.” If the newly established Trump Kennedy Center Fund reaches $100 million the board would approve a second inscription reading: “Endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund.” 

Thursday’s emergency request was filed by Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat and ex officio member of the Kennedy Center board, who has led the effort to oppose Trump’s rebranding of the center. In a statement to The Hill, her legal representatives described the board’s actions as “clear violations” of a prior court order.

In May, US District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that the board could not rename the institution, which Congress dedicated as a living memorial to former President John F. Kennedy in 1964, and that any name change would require congressional approval. Cooper also found that the Kennedy Center board had acted unlawfully in approving a two-year closure for renovations.

The Kennedy Center told The Hill that no attempts to inscribe Trump’s name would be made before September 8, to allow the court time to weigh the legal arguments.

The Kennedy Center board voted last December to add Trump’s name to the institution and its marble facade, triggering a legal standoff among the Trump administration, federal courts, and Washington preservationists. Legal experts have warned that the change may violate a congressional stipulation enacted after Kennedy’s assassination in 1963.

Trump’s allies on the board have asserted in their resolution that the center “would be in financial ruin without President Trump’s unique stature as both an unparalleled fundraiser and world-class developer.”

Elsewhere in Washington, D.C., the legal dispute over the president’s demolition of the White House East Wing to make way for a $400 million ballroom has taken a new turn. The Supreme Court ruled Friday that the project can proceed after a divided federal appeals court panel suspended construction pending congressional approval. Washington, D.C., media reported this week that crews are now fast-tracking construction, working 20 hours a day, seven days a week, to finish the project.