Kennedy Center warns of bankruptcy, closure
The Kennedy Center says it could face bankruptcy and close unless President Donald Trump’s name returns to its facade.
WASHINGTON — A federal judge blocked the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts from adding President Donald Trump’s name below the sign on the facade of the building, ruling that the move violates a prior order to remove the president’s name from the center’s name and signage.
U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper, in a Tuesday, Sept. 15 order, ruled that the Kennedy Center’s plans to add an inscription on the building that says “renovated and restored by Donald J. Trump” cannot move forward.
“Simply put, Defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’s blessing,” Cooper, an appointee of President Barack Obama, wrote in the 22-page order. “The board resolution bucks a federal court order and a statute Congress enacted.”
The Kennedy Center’s board of trustees was previously scheduled Tuesday to choose an inscription honoring Trump after voting in August to proceed with the gesture. But federal government attorneys informed the court late Monday that the board has shelved the proposal from its September meeting agenda.
A draft resolution originally prepared for the board to consider proposed 10 different wordings and phrases to recognize Trump’s financial support for the center with an inscription below the center’s main exterior sign.
It was an attempt to skirt Cooper’s order in May to remove Trump’s name from the center after the president’s attempted takeover of the iconic arts institution. The resolution, drafted by Trump-aligned Kennedy Center officials, warned that Trump would not lead the “fiscal rescue” of the center from potential bankruptcy unless the honorary inscription for him was added.
Yet at a Tuesday court hearing earlier in the day, Cooper pressed Justice Department attorneys on whether a trust, like the Kennedy Center, can even file for bankruptcy. The attorneys said they did not have an answer.
“Before throwing around these concepts, I would suggest knowing the answer to these questions,” Cooper said.
Kennedy Center board still to vote on immediate closure
The board still plans to vote Tuesday on closing the bulk of the center immediately for the next two years to initiate renovations. Yet whether it can remain shuttered will ultimately be decided by Cooper, as the judge weighs a motion from the government to vacate his May order on the closure of the center.
Cooper in May ordered the removal of Trump’s name from the center’s title, signage and branding, ruling that the board’s March renaming of the facility for Trump violated the 1964 federal law that created the center in honor of President John F. Kennedy. He also blocked the board’s March vote to close the center for two years for renovations, arguing that the board lacked enough information to make the decision.
The Kennedy Center on June 13 complied with the judge’s directive to remove Trump’s name from the building’s sign, but not until hours after a court deadline passed. The center’s Trump-aligned staff left up a massive tarp that prevents the public from seeing the sign without Trump’s name. The tarp remains over the facade of the center.
Justice Department attorneys have argued that the judge in March did not rule that the Kennedy Center can’t close for renovations, but simply objected to the board’s hastily conducted March vote to close it. Trump and the Kennedy Center are now citing an outside consulting group that identified leaks and other problems to justify the temporary closure.
However, at Tuesday’s court hearing, Cooper told the government’s attorneys that nothing from his previous order prevents them from conducting routine maintenance work, as long as the center remains open.
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.