{"id":464695,"date":"2026-09-15T18:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T18:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/464695\/"},"modified":"2026-09-15T18:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T18:14:09","slug":"judge-blocks-kennedy-center-board-from-adding-trumps-name-anywhere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/464695\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge blocks Kennedy Center board from adding Trump’s name anywhere"},"content":{"rendered":"

By ASHRAF KHALIL and STEVEN SLOAN, Associated Press<\/p>\n

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 A federal judge blocked the Kennedy Center on Tuesday from returning President\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a>\u00a0\u2019s name to the iconic performing arts venue in a move meant to recognize his renovation efforts, saying it would violate an earlier ruling that his name was illegally added to the building.<\/p>\n

Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that, \u201cSimply put, Defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress\u2019s blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Trump-aligned board at the Kennedy Center\u00a0voted in August<\/a>\u00a0to inscribe the president\u2019s name on the venue\u2019s facade so it would read \u201cThe John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the Trump Kennedy Center Fund reached $100 million, another inscription would be added reading: \u201cEndowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund.\u201d<\/p>\n

The plaza in front of the Kennedy Center would have also been renamed in Trump\u2019s honor, as part of the board\u2019s vote.<\/p>\n

Cooper ruled in May that only Congress can approve changes to the Kennedy Center\u2019s name. In an\u00a0emergency hearing<\/a>\u00a0on the matter in August, the administration argued it was no longer attempting to rename the building and that the vote was simply a recognition of Trump\u2019s effort to secure money for much needed renovations.<\/p>\n

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, whose wife sits on the Kennedy Center board, compared the move to the way hospitals and colleges recognize high dollar donors.<\/p>\n

But a lawyer for U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat and ex officio member of the Kennedy Center board, argued the changes amounted to \u201cdeja vu\u201d and violated Cooper\u2019s earlier ruling.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe law is extremely clear: The John F. Kennedy Center is named for President Kennedy \u2014 and no one else,\u201d Beatty said in a statement Tuesday. \u201cBut President Trump is holding the Kennedy Center hostage unless he can put his name on this sacred memorial. The Court just rejected this proposal for the second time. This unlawfulness is as breathtaking as it is wrong, and it needs to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s ruling is the latest twist in a months-old naming saga that first saw the board installing Trump\u2019s name above Kennedy\u2019s. After Cooper shot down that move, an elevated tarp was erected which obscures Trump\u2019s name and most of Kennedy\u2019s.<\/p>\n

A more recent board proposal\u00a0floated multiple options<\/a>\u00a0for getting Trump\u2019s name on the grounds, including inscriptions like \u201cRenovation and endowment overseen by President Donald J. Trump and the Trump Kennedy Center Fund.\u201d Another option: \u201cWith Gratitude for Support from President Donald J. Trump and the Trump Kennedy Center Fund.\u201d<\/p>\n

The proposed board resolution was submitted to the court by Beatty as part of her effort to prevent the board from proceeding with the planned closure. It flatly states that \u201cwithout such appropriate recognition\u201d it\u2019s unlikely that Trump will financially support what the board says are desperately needed renovations.<\/p>\n

Cooper, in his Tuesday ruling, tartly notes \u201cthe government plays word games.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a scheduling hearing Tuesday morning, prior to the release of his ruling, Cooper appealed to lawyers for both sides to find a mediated solution to the fate of the performing arts center. The center\u2019s board has claimed the building is in desperate physical shape and the institution is desperately close to insolvency.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs it possible to turn down the temperature a little bit?\u201d Cooper asked. \u201cI\u2019m not ordering you to do it, but there is a larger public interest here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By ASHRAF KHALIL and STEVEN SLOAN, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 A federal judge blocked the Kennedy Center…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":464696,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[182996,47816,74,76,75,182995],"class_list":["post-464695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-can-trump-rename-the-kennedy-center","tag-kennedy-center","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-trump-name-on-kennedy-center"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/464696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}