Judge hears arguments over Kennedy Center's efforts to return Trump's name to venue

A federal judge has heard arguments in a lawsuit over the latest efforts by the Kennedy Center's board to put President Trump's name back up at the arts complex's entrance — as early as next month.

A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:

A federal judge heard arguments Thursday over the latest efforts to put President Trump's name back on the Kennedy Center.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

The board that oversees the memorial to the slain president wants to change the wording on the building soon as early as two weeks from now.

MARTÍNEZ: NPR culture correspondent Anastasia Tsioulcas has been covering all of this for us. Anastasia, so early in his second term, President Trump made himself the chair of the Kennedy Center Board. What does it want to do now?

ANASTASIA TSIOULCAS, BYLINE: So the board, A, which is now dominated by members appointed by President Trump, voted a couple of weeks ago, on August 13, to close the main building of the Kennedy Center - meaning its biggest halls, its biggest performing spaces - for two years for renovations. And they also voted to put up a new sign on the entryway that would read, quote, "the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump."

And they say if Trump raises $100 million, they'll add a third line reading, quote, "endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund." And they're not stopping there. The board says it also wants to rename the physical grounds present Donald J. Trump Plaza, and they want that restored and renovated sign up as early as September 9.

MARTÍNEZ: And if they don't get their way, they say the building might have to be torn down?

TSIOULCAS: Yeah. Earlier this week in their own legal filings, the board said if there's no major renovation, they might have to demolish the Kennedy Center and perhaps build something else altogether, like an outdoor amphitheater. Now, A, I have to note, in a statement they emailed to me afterwards, the Kennedy Center walked that back and they call that a, quote, "hypothetical scenario."

MARTÍNEZ: OK. So how did all this land them back in court?

TSIOULCAS: Well, this is all part of the federal lawsuit which Representative Joyce Beatty, Democrat of Ohio, originally filed last December, and the judge in the suit, Christopher R. Cooper, has already ruled that it was unlawful to rename it the Trump Kennedy Center. Only Congress has that authority since the center was created as a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy.

MARTÍNEZ: So this latest round is over the name again?

TSIOULCAS: That's exactly it. The question really at this now is would adding Trump's name in the way that the board wants to fundamentally be the same as renaming the center after Trump, or is it something different? Beatty and her team are arguing it's basically the same thing. In their emergency motion that led to this hearing, Beatty's lawyers quoted Yogi Berra, "it's deja vu all over again." Joyce Beatty was on All Things Considered yesterday afternoon to discuss all this, and she said what she's been saying since the start of all of this.

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JOYCE BEATTY: The law is very clear that you cannot change what Congress has already passed.

TSIOULCAS: She's also been making the point that the board wants to put up a sign now saying the center has been renovated and restored before anything's actually happened.

MARTÍNEZ: So what's the Trump team saying about all this?

TSIOULCAS: So the board and Trump, in his role as Kenny Center chairman, are all being represented by lawyers from the Department of Justice, from the civil division of the DOJ, and they're arguing that an enormous renovation is desperately needed and that Trump is the only person who can do it. And they're saying that adding Trump's name is not the same as changing anything.

MARTÍNEZ: I think Yogi also said it ain't over till it's over. I guess we'll find out. That's NPR's Anastasia Tsioulcas. Anastasia, thanks.

TSIOULCAS: You bet.

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