Trump can't rename Kennedy Center or close it for renovation for now, judge says

A federal judge on Friday barred President Donald Trump from adding his name to that of the Kennedy Center.

Judge Christopher Cooper also temporarily blocked the Washington, D.C., cultural landmark from being closed for two years for renovations.

“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,” Cooper wrote in his order in U.S. District Court in Washington.

“Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it.”

Cooper’s order came as a result of a lawsuit against Trump by Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat and ex officio member of the Kennedy Center’s Board of Trustees.

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