No Can Do
U.S. District Judge Casey Cooper said “it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board’s unilateral say-so”
A federal judge has ruled that the Kennedy Center board violated the law when it added President Donald Trump’s name to the performing arts venue and blocked the institution from temporarily closing its doors this summer to renovate.
The law establishing the center “makes crystal clear that the Center is to be named for President Kennedy, and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board’s unilateral say-so,” U.S. District Judge Casey Cooper wrote in his opinion, adding, “Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it.”
In Cooper’s opinion, he ruled that officials are required to remove any of the signage at the Kennedy Center that bears Trump’s name within two weeks. Additionally, the website must be updated to remove references to the “Trump Kennedy Center” name and also any references to “Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”
