Judge blocks Kennedy Center’s plan to add Trump’s name back on building

WASHINGTON — A federal judge blocked the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts from adding President Donald Trump's name below the sign on the facade of the building, ruling the move violates a prior order to remove the president's name from the center's name and signage.

U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper, in a Tuesday, Sept. 15 order, ruled the Kennedy Center board's plans to add an inscription on the building that says "renovated and restored by Donald J. Trump" cannot move forward.

"Simply put, Defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’s blessing," Cooper wrote in the 22-page order. "The board resolution bucks a federal court order and a statute Congress enacted."

The Kennedy Center's board of trustees had been scheduled to vote on adding Trump's name with an honorary inscription on Tuesday. But the federal government attorneys informed the court late Monday the board has shelved the proposal from its September meeting agenda.

A draft resolution originally prepared for the board to consider proposed 10 different wordings and phrases to recognize Trump's financial support for the center with an inscription below the center's main exterior sign.

Original source: https://www.usatoday.com/travel/