President Donald Trump’s name could soon be back on the Kennedy Center, just two months after a federal judge ordered it taken down.
The Kennedy Center board voted Thursday to add a new inscription beneath the building’s existing name reading: “Restored and renovated by President Donald J. Trump.”
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The approach is different from the one the board tried last year. Instead of renaming the institution, the Kennedy Center would keep its congressionally desingated name while adding Trump’s name separately to the building.
The previous name change
Last year, the board voted to rename the institution Trump-Kennedy Center, and crews added Trump’s name to the building.
But a federal judge later ruled that only Congress can change the institution’s name. Workers removed the Trump letters in June.
The board is now leaving the Kennedy Center name intact while directing officials to honor Trump for his work on the center by “all legal means.”
Ohio Rep. Joyce Beatty, a Democrat who successfully challenged the earlier name change, argues the distinction does not resolve the underlying issue.
“This latest development is a transparent effort to circumvent the Court’s ruling, and flies in the face of the statutes that Congress passed,” Beatty said in a statement.
Kennedy Center moves ahead with closure
The board, whose members were appointed by Trump after he removed the center’s previous trustees last year, also voted to move forward with closing the Kennedy Center’s main building for renovations.
Under the plan, a newer part of the campus known as The Reach would remain open for limited programming and serve as an active memorial to John F. Kennedy.
The closure itself has already been the subject oof a separate court fight. A federal judge previously halted an earlier plan to close the center, ruling that the board had not properly approved it.
Thursday’s vote was designed to formally authorize the closure and address that issue. The judge will now review the board’s latest action before deciding whether the renovation plan can proceed.
The Kennedy Center has until next week to submit its updated plan to the court.
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