Judge rules Kennedy Center board cannot put Trump's name on building again

Washington  — A federal judge again blocked the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts' Board of Trustees from adding President Trump's name on the building on Tuesday, finding that a proposed resolution to add Mr. Trump's name to the building "bucks a federal court order and a statute Congress enacted."

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper sided with Rep. Joyce Beatty, a board member who sued last year over Mr. Trump's changes to the Kennedy Center. Beatty, an Ohio Democrat, argued that the board's recent efforts to recognize the president violate federal law, and her legal team asked Cooper to issue emergency relief blocking the changes.

"Defendants are hereby enjoined from inscribing "renovated and restored by Donald J. Trump" on the main building or renaming the campus the "President Donald J. Trump Plaza," Cooper wrote in a 22-page opinion. "Simply put, Defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress's blessing. The board resolution bucks a federal court order and a statute Congress enacted."

The board, which is chaired by Mr. Trump and is comprised of his Cabinet members and allies, approved a resolution in August that called for the inscription "Renovated and Restored by President Donald J. Trump" to be placed under the center's name on the building and for the inscription "Endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund" to be added if a $100 million fundraising threshold is met. The resolution also calls for the Kennedy Center's grounds to be named the "President Donald J. Trump Plaza." 

Cooper declined to rule on whether the inscription of "endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund" could be placed on the building, finding that Beatty did not show that the phrase would be placed on the building "imminently, if at all."

During arguments on the emergency motion last month, Nathaniel Zelinsky, a lawyer representing Beatty, called the board's vote to again put Mr. Trump's name on the center "deja vu" and an act of "outright defiance" of an order from Cooper earlier this year that barred the center's closure and ordered Mr. Trump's name to be removed from the building. The Trump administration has appealed that earlier ruling. 

The Justice Department said in court last month that "there is no renaming here," and argued that the proposed inscriptions were meant to honor Mr. Trump because of ongoing and future fundraising efforts by the president to supplement a $257 million congressional stipend for a massive renovation project pushed by the White House.