A federal judge has blocked Donald Trump from renaming the Kennedy Center the “Trump-Kennedy Center,” nor can the president close it down for repairs.
District Judge Christopher Cooper in Washington, D.C. won’t let the president name the iconic performing arts center after himself, noting that Congress made it “crystal clear” that the building is to be named after former President John F. Kennedy, “and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial” based a “unilateral say-so” from a Trump-appointed board.
“Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it,” Cooper wrote in Friday’s injunction.
The order does not block the Trump administration from moving forward with the planned capital repair work, “which the record demonstrates is sorely needed,” Cooper wrote. The order also does not block 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.”
This is a developing story.
