SouthernWorldwide.com – Workers commenced the removal of President Donald Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center’s facade on Friday, following a court’s decision to deny an appeal from the center’s board seeking to halt a judge’s order for the name’s removal.
Scaffolding was erected around the Washington, D.C. landmark on Friday. Workers then began taking down the signage that had previously displayed “The Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center For The Performing Arts.”
The Kennedy Center board had initially approved the addition of Trump’s name in December. At the time, the board stated the decision was in recognition of Trump’s contributions to saving the institution from financial collapse and physical damage.
Just the following day, workers attached Trump’s name to the facade.
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However, the name is now being removed, despite the Kennedy Center board’s multiple attempts to delay the process.
The board submitted requests for both a stay pending appeal and an immediate administrative stay. Their argument was that the name should not be removed until the case could be reviewed by an appellate court.
But an appeals court ultimately denied the request for an immediate administrative stay.
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Subsequently, the board filed an emergency motion with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. However, a three-judge panel from that court also denied the motion.
The board had specifically asked for a pause in enforcing Judge Christopher Cooper’s ruling that Trump’s name be removed. Cooper, a U.S. District judge, had denied this request on Friday.
In his written opinion regarding the ruling, Cooper maintained that the Kennedy Center’s name can only be changed or modified through an act of Congress.
Trump publicly criticized Cooper’s decision in a series of posts on Truth Social in late May. He suggested that the judge’s wife might have influenced his decision, noting that Cooper’s wife, Amy Jeffress, is a former Department of Justice attorney during the Obama administration. Jeffress had previously represented several prominent critics of Trump.
