Judge denies last-minute attempt to stop removal of Trump’s name from Kennedy Center

Washington — A federal judge on Friday denied a last-minute attempt by the Trump administration to stop the removal of President Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center, following an earlier order that set a deadline of Friday for the name to come down.

U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper determined last month that the president’s name was illegally added to The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and ordered that it be removed. The Trump administration said it would appeal that ruling on Thursday. On Friday, Cooper denied a request for a stay of his permanent injunction pending appeal, meaning his order won’t be paused and the deadline stands. 

Cooper laid out his reasoning for denying the request for a stay in a brief order.

“Most notably, for the detailed reasons laid out in the Court’s [initial] ruling, Defendants have not ‘made a strong showing that [they] are likely to succeed on the merits’ of any appeal,” the judge wrote. “Nor have Defendants demonstrated that they ‘will be irreparably injured absent a stay.'” 

Workers were seen erecting scaffolding outside the Kennedy Center under its name on Friday.

The center, run by a Trump-aligned board of trustees, voted in December to add the president’s name to the institution, rebranding it as the Trump-Kennedy Center. The center is the premier arts venue in the nation’s capital and was established by Congress as a memorial to President John F. Kennedy.

A Democratic member of Congress who sits on the board challenged the move in court. In May, Cooper ruled that only Congress could approve a name change to the institution and set a deadline of June 12 for complying with his order. 

Earlier this month, CBS News reported that lawyers for the center were instructing staff to immediately begin the process of switching the name of the facility back to its original title. The instructions were laid out in a memo sent by the center’s general counsel and obtained by CBS News.

Cooper’s original order also blocked plans by the administration and trustees to close the center for nearly two years for major renovations. 

The Kennedy Center’s website has already removed the president’s name from much of its online material. 

Mr. Trump made moves to put his mark on the center soon after his return to office last year, removing Democratic-appointed members of the board and installing allies and top administration officials instead. The president and his allies also sought to make changes to the types of performances at the institution.