The US Court of Appeals for DC ruled today that President Donald Trump cannot put his name back on the Kennedy Center during ongoing litigation stemming from a lawsuit filed by Representative Joyce Beatty.
US District Judge Christopher Cooper—in response to Beatty’s lawsuit—ordered in May that the center remove Trump’s name from its facade. After some last-minute appeal attempts, the administration complied and the name came down, but the change remains obscured from public view by a tarp.
The Trump administration’s appeal of Cooper’s ruling is still ongoing, but the appeals court just denied Trump’s request for a stay pending appeal, meaning the center cannot reinstall Trump’s name while the appeals process plays out.
The court in the ruling wrote that the administration failed to explain how they would be “irreparably injured absent a stay.” Essentially, Trump failed to prove that there would be any harm in not allowing his name back on the building during the appeals process.
The Trump administration had argued financial harm would come to the center if Trump’s name was not reinstated, because the removal would “impede” fundraising efforts. The court dismissed this claim, saying the administration failed to back it up with facts or evidence.
The ruling is the latest development in a legal battle starting in December, when Beatty filed a lawsuit opposing Trump’s takeover of the center, which started last year when he ousted the center’s board and took over as chair. The board voted to change the name to “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts” in December. Beatty’s lawsuit also opposed Trump’s planned closure of the center for two years to complete renovations.
Cooper in May ruled that renaming the center was illegal, as only Congress can change the name, and ordered the president’s name to come down—an order the administration complied with last month. Cooper also blocked the closure of the center, saying the Board violated its “fiduciary duty” in voting to close it for renovations.
Cooper ordered the center late last month to explain the tarp that continues to cover the facade of the building, saying the Department of Justice must file a report explaining “the purpose for and status of the tarp and scaffolding that Defendants have erected on the front portico of the Center, to the extent they remain at that time.”
