A federal judge in Washington has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from closing the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for repairs and found the board’s decision to add President Donald Trump’s name to the center was unlawful and ordered that it be removed from the building and its website.
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U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper found the center’s board vote to shutter the facility for two years while repairs are carried out was the result of an “ill-informed and seemingly preordained decision.”
“The trustees might have assessed the propriety of closure in a number of prudent ways. This was not one,” the judge wrote, signing off on a preliminary injunction blocking the center from closing.
“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,” the judge wrote.
The judge also blocked the Trump administration from formally changing the name of the Kennedy Center. The board voted to add Trump’s name to the center last year.
“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,” the judge wrote in his 94-page decision.
He issued an order giving the administration 14 days to remove Trump’s name from the building and the center’s website.
“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,” said Kennedy Center spokesperson Roma Daravi.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
