The arts venue’s board has reportedly found a workaround after a federal judge earlier ordered the president’s name taken down
The Kennedy Center board has voted to restore Donald Trump’s name to the Washington arts venue, multiple media outlets have reported, just two months after it was removed on a federal judge’s orders.
The Trump-aligned board voted last December to rename the institution after Trump and John F. Kennedy, and his name was subsequently added to its facade. US District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled in May that the board lacked authority to change the name established by Congress and ordered the Trump signage removed. Workers complied in June.
This time, however, the board is not formally renaming the Kennedy Center after Trump. According to Axios, an inscription below the Kennedy Center sign will read “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump,” while the physical site will be named “the President Donald J. Trump Plaza.”
The new formulation puts Trump’s name back on the building without formally declaring that the Kennedy Center is named after him, apparently seeking to sidestep the restriction that only Congress can change the institution’s name.
The board also voted Thursday to move forward with a two-year closure of the center’s main venue for renovations. The proposed overhaul would refurbish aging infrastructure, polish the building’s marble facade, and renovate its halls and theaters.
“Under President Trump’s bold leadership, the Kennedy Center is on its way to becoming the finest cultural institution anywhere in the world,” White House spokeswoman Liz Huston told Axios.
The naming saga has already inspired legislation in Congress. In January, Senator Bernie Sanders and several Democratic colleagues introduced the Stop Executive Renaming for Vanity and Ego (SERVE) Act, which would prohibit federal buildings, land and other assets from being named after a sitting president. The bill remains at the committee stage.
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Huston argued at the time that such naming efforts reflect policy achievements rather than branding, citing initiatives including the TrumpRx prescription drug website and noting that both Washington, DC and the Hoover Dam were named after presidents while they were still in office.
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