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Judge Orders Removal of Trump’s Name from Kennedy Center and Blocks Planned Closure

Judge Orders Removal of Trump’s Name from Kennedy Center and Blocks Planned Closure

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A federal judge has blocked President Trump’s attempt to rename and temporarily close the Kennedy Center, ordering the removal of his name and all related signage. The ruling cites violations of statutory limits on the board’s authority and came after a lawsuit filed by a Democratic congresswoman.

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Donald Trump
Republican Party
1. Judge Cooper should be ashamed of himself! I cannot be involved with a situation where danger to the Public is allowed to flourish in plain and open sight.
2. Unfortunately, Judge Cooper and the Radical Left would rather see it DIE than have President Trump transform it into something that everyone could be proud of.
3. We are going to be working with Congress to transfer this failing Institution back to them so they can make a determination as to what to do with it.
4. I cannot be involved with a situation where danger to the Public is allowed to flourish in plain and open sight. Unless I am free to do what I do better than anyone else, bring this Institution back, physically, financially, and artistically, I have no interest in continuing what could only be a hopeless journey into 'NEVER NEVER LAND.'
5. I have instructed the Department of Commerce to make all necessary arrangements with Congress to allow a full and complete transfer of this Institution, giving them the responsibility for its Operation, Maintenance, and Management.
Christopher Cooper
US Attorney's Office
1. President Trump's assurance that closure would be 'totally subject to board approval' rings hollow, as he himself later admitted that it was 'a little late for the board' to weigh in because the plan had already been 'announced.' To him, Board approval was just a 'minor detail,'
2. Trustees learned about the plan to close the center at the same time as the general public, by social media post. Deprived of time and information, they had no meaningful opportunity to consider perhaps the most momentous decision in the Center's lifetime since it opened in 1971.
3. Whatever happened during that purported four-month incubation period, board input was, most evidently, an afterthought.
4. The Kennedy Center's organic statute 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. Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it.
5. May the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts be renamed absent Congressional authorization? The answer, plain from the face of the statute, is no. Nor can any other individual be memorialized on the front portico of the building.
6. However, the preliminary injunction will not prevent the Center from moving forward with the capital repair work it has planned, which the record demonstrates is sorely needed. Nor will it categorically prohibit the Board from closing the Center should it come to this decision anew after independently balancing its multiple obligations to the Center in a prudent fashion.
7. The trustees might have assessed the propriety of closure in a number of prudent ways. This was not one.
Joyce Beatty
Democratic Party
1. Today's ruling rightly affirms that this administration's efforts to rename and close the center have no basis in law.
2. The Kennedy Center is an institution that belongs to the American people, not to Donald Trump. He has desecrated this sacred memorial for his own vanity. I am proud to have fought for the rule of law and to protect this sacred institution.
3. Now hopefully people can come back to work, we can continue to be the Kennedy Center that we were intended to be.
Roma Daravi
Trump-Kennedy Center For Performing Arts
1. With $257 million secured by President Trump and approved by Congress, the resources are in place and we remain committed to pursuing every lawful avenue to ensure the Trump Kennedy Center is restored as a national cultural landmark for all Americans to enjoy.
2. Though the reality remains - the Center requires an urgent and significant restoration – a truth that even the plaintiff acknowledges.
3. We are confident that on appeal the court will uphold the Board's will to recognize President Trump's historic contributions to our nation's cultural center.
Norm Eisen
State Democracy Defenders Fund
1. This is a powerful blow against the Trump administration's corruption.
Maria Shriver
1. The judge held that only Congress can change the Center's name and blocked the planned two-year closure. I know they'll probably appeal and the story isn't over, but for today let's celebrate a great birthday gift.
2. An appropriate birthday present on my uncle's birthday today. A federal judge ruled that President Trump and the Kennedy Center Board acted unlawfully in renaming the Kennedy Center.

Judge Orders Removal of Trump’s Name from Kennedy Center and Blocks Planned Closure

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