Washington: A US district judge ruled that the addition of US President Donald Trump’s name to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts was unlawful and ordered it removed within two weeks.
Judge Christopher Cooper of the Federal District Court in Washington wrote that US Congress commanded that the Center be “the sole national memorial” to the 35th President John F. Kennedy within the city of Washington and its environs, Xinhua reported.
The judge noted that the Kennedy Center’s Board of Trustees overstepped its authority by unilaterally renaming the center after Trump.
“The Kennedy Center’s organic statute makes crystal clear that the Center is to be named for President Kennedy, and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board’s unilateral say-so. Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it,” Cooper said.
Cooper also temporarily blocked the Trump administration from shuttering the Kennedy Center for two years.
He said the board’s decision to shut down operations rested on “an insufficient, one-sided presentation of information and neglected to consider the full range of its statutory obligations and potential adverse consequences of closure on programming and memorial functions.”
The “preliminary injunction will not prevent the Center from moving forward with the capital repair work it has planned, which the record demonstrates is sorely needed. Nor will it categorically prohibit 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,” the judge added.
Since taking office for the second time, Trump has taken a very active role at the Kennedy Center, ousting previous leadership and installing himself as board chair.
In December, the board voted to rename the venue “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts,” a decision that drew widespread criticism from both the public and political leaders. A number of prominent artists cancelled performances at the Kennedy Center.
Trump announced in February that the Kennedy Center would halt entertainment operations for roughly two years beginning in July to allow construction.
The center is widely regarded as the United States’ national cultural center, hosting world-class performances in music, opera, drama, dance and other performing arts.
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