Kennedy Center Board Pushes Its Trump Inscription to Oct. 8 After a Judge Asks Why It Had to Move So Fast

At an Aug. 27 hearing on Rep. Joyce Beatty's emergency motion, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper pressed Justice Department lawyer Brantley Mayers on why the Kennedy Center board had to act by Sept. 8, asking "What does that have to do with what Congress intended?" Hours later the department filed notice that the board would not add the inscription "Renovated and Restored by President Donald J. Trump" until Oct. 8 at the earliest. The board's resolution also calls for an "Endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund" inscription if $100 million is raised, and for naming the grounds "President Donald J. Trump Plaza."

Cooper ruled earlier this year that only Congress can change the center's name and that no one but Kennedy may be memorialized on the front portico. Testing the government's theory that naming the plaza is different, he asked whether the board could then name the parking garage for Obama: "The whole thing would be for sale, basically?" Mayers did not push back.

Cooper issued no decision and said he might order a temporary bar if the timeline did not move. The facade has been tarped since Trump's name was removed in June.