Judge rejects bid to put Trump’s name on Kennedy Center building

Most of the legal challenges to Trump’s changes focus on the fact that Congress established the centre as a memorial to President John F Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963. While detractors say that means Congress must approve changes to the memorial, Trump has argued that he has the power to act.

“Simply put, Defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’s blessing,” US District Judge Christopher Cooper said in a written order issued on Tuesday.

The judge said that the board’s proposals to add language to the existing name of the centre and its surrounding campus “bucks a federal court order and a statute Congress enacted”.

That statute was a decision by the US legislative body to memorialise Kennedy, “and no one else, at the Center bearing his name”, the order said.

On Sunday, the Kennedy Center administration told its board that the arts institution was on the brink of bankruptcy, the Washington Post, external reported.

The administration said it was in a “precarious fiscal position” and would not be able to support its payroll obligations and routine maintenance contracts “within a matter of weeks”.

The current leadership at the centre has said the building is unsafe for continued occupancy, pointing to part of the ceiling falling in earlier this month. But others close to the centre dispute that it must be closed.

The Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to the BBC’s request for comment.

Earlier on Tuesday, Trump confirmed the board would meet and said on Truth Social that the Kennedy Center is “in a virtual state of collapse”.

He described dire conditions in the building and railed against the “hostile and conflicted” judge for keeping it open despite neither having performances scheduled nor “people that would have the Courage to even go in”.

He also touted his ability to raise money and construction prowess, adding that he has the strength and power of the presidency to support his renovation.