Kennedy Center Board Votes to Add Trump Inscription Amid Ongoing Legal Dispute
Select a version of the text written from a presumed ideological perspective. This is not the original text, but a hypothetical version — how someone with that viewpoint might have phrased it. Tapping the current version again will return to the original or select cleaned version.
The Kennedy Center’s board approved a plaque reading “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump,” a move that challenges a federal judge’s order to remove the former president’s name.
The board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts approved a resolution Thursday to place a plaque beneath the center’s main signage that would read “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump.” The decision directs officials to implement the inscription using “all legal means” and follows a separate vote to proceed with a plan to close the venue for renovations.
A federal judge previously ordered the removal of Trump’s name, ruling that only Congress has the authority to change the institution’s designation. The center complied by taking down the lettering in June and is currently appealing the ruling.
The board’s action appears intended to navigate a provision in the Kennedy Center’s governing statute that prohibits additional memorials or plaques in public areas.