Kennedy Center Won’t Inscribe Trump’s Name Until At Least September
The Kennedy Center said in Tuesday’s filing it has committed to not effectuating a resolution it passed at its board meeting last week, which would add an inscription to the venue’s facade thanking Trump for restoring and renovating the center, until Sept. 8 at the earliest. Beatty, in her part of the joint status report, challenged the center’s decision to inscribe Trump’s name as a potential violation of the court’s earlier order to remove Trump branding from the venue. Beatty called the move to add Trump’s name a “breathtaking act of defiance,” saying the Kennedy Center has “no lawful basis to ignore this Court’s decision and impose Donald Trump’s name on a memorial dedicated by the Congress exclusively to a different President.” Beatty accused the Kennedy Center of attempting to memorialize Trump, which she says would violate the law that designates the venue as a memorial to Kennedy and designates naming abilities to Congress. Beatty also suggested inscribing Trump’s name could further damage the marble facade.
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what to watch for
Beatty appears poised to challenge the Kennedy Center’s decision to inscribe Trump’s name in court. In the joint status report, she asked the court for “intervention” and urged it to schedule an emergency hearing, saying she “stands ready to brief the matter” on an “expedited basis.” The Kennedy Center suggested a range of dates in late August for a hearing on the matter, which Beatty urged the court to accept.
What Happened At The Kennedy Center’s Last Board Meeting?
Last week, the Kennedy Center’s board, filled with Trump allies, voted to add an inscription that reads, “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump,” to the venue’s facade. Beatty, in a statement immediately after the meeting, called the decision a “transparent effort to circumvent the Court’s ruling, and flies in the face of the statutes that Congress passed.” At that meeting, the center also voted to close for two years for renovations, keeping a smaller building open for limited programming and to function as a memorial to Kennedy. Trump has long pushed for the center to close for renovations, calling it “tired, broken, and dilapidated” in a February Truth Social post. Beatty also challenged the center’s decision to close in Tuesday’s status report, alleging the center failed to conduct a proper cost-benefit analysis of shutting down most programming. Beatty said Delta Consulting Group provided a cost-benefit analysis to the board in the form of a PowerPoint presentation, but alleged the “substance of the presentation deck is just two slides long.”
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key background
The Kennedy Center has been locked in a legal battle to reinstate Trump’s name on the venue’s facade for months. U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper ruled in May the Kennedy Center must remove Trump’s name from its digital and physical branding, saying the board’s decision to add the name violated a law that designates the ability to name the venue to Congress. The ruling also temporarily blocked the Kennedy Center from closing, as Cooper said the decision to close was made based on a “one-sided presentation of information” without properly considering its “full range of its statutory obligations.” The Kennedy Center is fighting Cooper’s ruling in a federal appeals court.
further reading
Kennedy Center Board Votes To Inscribe Trump’s Name—Despite Court Ruling (Forbes)
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Kennedy Center Given More Time To Explain Why Tarps Remain (Forbes)