Judge Asked to Block Trump's Kennedy Center Inscription
Judge Asked to Block Trump's Kennedy Center Inscription
The News
Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, filed an emergency court motion Thursday night to stop the Kennedy Center from inscribing President Trump's name on the building's front portico and renaming its grounds after him.
Beatty, an ex-officio trustee of the Kennedy Center, argues the plan defies a court order issued in May that already forced Trump's name off the facade.
The center's board voted Aug. 13 to add two Trump inscriptions below President Kennedy's name and to rename the plaza outside the building "President Donald J. Trump Plaza."
Timeline
Judge Cooper ruled that only Congress can name the Kennedy Center, and that no individual other than President Kennedy may be memorialized on the front portico.
Trump's name came off the facade under the court order. A tarp has covered the front of the building ever since, blocking the public's view of Kennedy's name. The Kennedy Center says the tarps are needed for ongoing construction and has given no timeline for removing them.
The board voted to add two Trump inscriptions beneath Kennedy's name. A second inscription would be triggered once the Trump Kennedy Center Fund raises $100 million.
Beatty filed her emergency motion asking the judge to block the move.
Reactions
"Enough is enough," Beatty said, urging the judge to "put an end to this childish gambit," according to MSNBC.
Her filing calls the board's plan a "breathtaking act of defiance" and accuses the center of playing "chicken with the Court," Forbes reported.
The board's position, as reported by USA Today and the New York Post, is that the inscriptions honor Trump's contributions as a renovator and fundraiser rather than rename the institution. Beatty counters that they amount to a renaming in substance and violate the judge's explicit prohibition.
What's Next
The Kennedy Center must file its response to Beatty's motion by Monday.
Judge Cooper has indicated he will schedule a hearing before the board's Sept. 8 deadline if one is needed.
Unresolved: whether an inscription crediting a president's role in a renovation counts as a "memorial" under the statute — a question the court has not yet ruled on.
More
Congress appropriated $257 million for the Kennedy Center renovation project. The Trump Kennedy Center Fund's $100 million fundraising mark is the trigger the board attached to the second inscription.
The dispute is a rerun of the fight that ended with the name being stripped in June, which is why the center's own trustees are back in front of the same judge.
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