The Kennedy Center board told a federal judge Thursday it will not attempt to add President Donald Trump’s name to the building or grounds until October 8 at the earliest, a one-month delay from previous plans.
The announcement came in a one-sentence court filing following a hearing earlier in the day where the Kennedy Center and Justice Department were on the defensive about its goal of putting Trump’s name back on the center after its previous attempt was blocked this summer.
District Judge Christopher Cooper in Washington, DC, had asked pointed questions of the Justice Department during the two-hour hearing, pushing for a reason why the center wanted to add Trump’s name as soon as September 8.
Describing that date as arbitrary, Cooper, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, said that if the center didn’t quickly change course on its timeline, he may have to issue a temporary order that bars the center from moving ahead with adding the president’s name back to its building while the legal wrangling continues.
The board says it wants to add Trump’s name to the site to acknowledge his “ongoing” contributions to its maintenance, the DOJ is arguing, in an attempt to distinguish the proposal from its previous attempt to add Trump’s name to the center writ-large.
