The Trump administration’s last attempt to delay the removal of the former president’s name from the Kennedy Center’s exterior has been thwarted by a federal appeals court panel. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has denied the request, thereby upholding the end-of-day deadline for this action.
This decision means that, unless there is an unexpected intervention from the full D.C. Circuit or the Supreme Court, Donald Trump’s name must be taken down from the prestigious arts and culture venue within a few hours. The court’s schedule indicates that the next possible ruling in this case won’t occur until at least June 29.
In anticipation of this outcome, workers had already set up scaffolding around the Kennedy Center. However, as of early Friday evening, the name had not yet been removed. The administration had been seeking to delay this deadline, but their efforts have so far been unsuccessful.
The Hill has reached out to the Kennedy Center for their response to this development. The unfolding situation remains closely watched as further legal actions could alter the timeline.
The Hill has reached out to the Kennedy Center for comment.
The ruling contained no explanation, and it is not necessarily an indication of how the court views the underlying legal issues.
The three-judge panel comprised U.S. Circuit Judges Patricia Millett and Robert Wilkins, both appointees of former President Obama, and U.S. Circuit Judge Gregory Katsas, a Trump appointee.
Late last year, the Kennedy Center board voted to rename the renowned arts and culture institution as “The Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.” Trump’s name was soon added the building’s signage and branding.
Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), an ex-officio board member, sued over the renaming and a planned closure of the center.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, an Obama appointee, agreed with her it was unlawful and gave the administration two weeks to take down Trump’s name, setting up Friday’s deadline.
As it approached, the administration kicked off a last-minute appeal. It warned that stripping Trump’s name “threatens to substantially undermine fundraising and financial viability at the most sensitive point in its history.”
Beatty called the appeal “frivolous” and a “transparent effort to jam the Court and game the judicial system.”
“Appellants dragged their feet for nearly two weeks, only to appeal the day before they faced a deadline to comply,” Beatty’s lawyers wrote.
Both Cooper and the D.C. Circuit have now declined to intervene before the deadline passes.
After the parties submit a round of written briefs through June 29, the D.C. Circuit will rule on whether the judge’s order should remain for the duration of the appeal.