US judge orders removal of Trump’s name from Kennedy Center
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Washington: A United States district judge has ruled that the addition of President Donald Trump’s name to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts was unlawful and ordered that it be removed within two weeks.
In a ruling issued by the Federal District Court in Washington, Judge Christopher Cooper said Congress had designated the Kennedy Center as “the sole national memorial” to the 35th US President, John F. Kennedy, in Washington and its surrounding areas.
The judge held that the Kennedy Center’s Board of Trustees exceeded its authority by unilaterally renaming the institution 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 in his ruling.
Cooper also issued a preliminary injunction temporarily blocking the Trump administration’s plan to shut down the Kennedy Center for two years.
According to the judge, the board’s decision to suspend operations was based on “an insufficient, one-sided presentation of information” and failed to adequately consider its statutory responsibilities as well as the potential impact of closure on the centre’s programming and memorial functions.
However, Cooper clarified that the injunction would not prevent the Kennedy Center from carrying out its planned capital repair and renovation work.
“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,” he said.
Since returning to office for a second term, Trump has taken an active role in the Kennedy Center’s affairs, removing previous leadership and appointing himself as chairman of the board.
In December, the Board of Trustees voted to rename the institution “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts,” a move that sparked widespread criticism from the public, political leaders and members of the arts community.
Several prominent artists subsequently cancelled planned performances at the venue in protest.
In February, Trump announced that entertainment operations at the Kennedy Center would be suspended for approximately two years beginning in July to facilitate construction and renovation work.
Widely regarded as the United States’ national cultural centre, the Kennedy Center hosts internationally acclaimed performances in music, opera, theatre, dance and other performing arts.
With IANS inputs