U.S. Representative Joyce Beatty, a Democrat, has made an emergency request to a federal court to block the Kennedy Center from adding President Donald Trump's name to the building. This was reported by infohub.kz.
The Trump-aligned board members had previously approved inscribing on the building's facade: "The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump." If the Trump Kennedy Center Fund raises $100 million, an additional inscription would be added: "Endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund." Plans also include renaming the plaza in front of the center after Trump.
The Kennedy Center has stated it will not engrave Trump's name before September 8 to allow for legal arguments. Beatty opposes this action, and her lawyers, Norm Eisen and Nathaniel Zelinsky, wrote in their court filing that the board's actions constitute "clear violations" of an earlier court order.
A representative for the Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The resolution approved by Trump's allies on the board stated that the center "would be in financial ruin without President Trump's unique stature as both an unparalleled fundraiser and world-class developer."
In 1964, the year after Kennedy was assassinated, Congress designated the performing arts center as a living memorial to Kennedy. The law explicitly prohibits the board from turning the center into a memorial to anyone else and from placing another person's name on the building's exterior.
U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper ruled in May that the Kennedy Center illegally added Trump's name to the building and ordered its removal. The center complied in June but left a tarp and scaffolding where Trump's name had been. The center's lawyers have not committed to removing the scaffolding this week, saying it is needed for "water testing and structural repairs to the roof overhang."