A federal judge in the United States has dismissed this Friday a lawsuit filed by the board of directors of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Department of Justice, with which they intended to prevent the removal of President Donald Trump's surname from the institution's facade, after a previous ruling deemed the name change unconstitutional.
The magistrate of the District of Columbia, Casey Cooper, had already indicated in a previous decision that only Congress is empowered to modify the official designation of the center and ordered the Trump Administration to remove the signs with the president's surname, as well as to make the necessary adjustments on the website, within a maximum period of two weeks.
Following that ruling, the Kennedy Center board and the Department of Justice went to court to appeal the decision. However, Judge Cooper rejected the appeal this Friday, considering that the legal representatives have not managed to prove that the building would suffer irreparable harm if the sign were removed, according to "The Washington Post".
The judicial decision, of more than 90 pages, also nullified a project announced in March by the Trump Administration to temporarily close the center in order to carry out renovation work, which would have meant interrupting the activity and programming of the cultural complex.
The tycoon dismissed half of the board members and appointed people he trusted in their place. Shortly after, the governing body responsible for directing, managing, and preserving this prominent cultural institution unanimously voted for the name change.
The measure triggered a wave of cancellations by artists, in a context of strong criticism from the Democratic opposition. The United States Congress created the National Cultural Center in 1958 to host concerts, conferences, and other artistic activities, an entity that was renamed by law after the death of President Kennedy.