Judge Wants Update On “Purpose And Status” Of Tarp That Conceals Kennedy Center Facade After Donald Trump’s Name Was…

A federal judge wants an update on the purpose of a tarp being placed over a part of the facade of the Kennedy Center, installed after workers removed Donald Trump‘s name from the arts institution.

Last month, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ordered the president’s name removed after the Kennedy Center board voted to add it late last year. On June 13, workers took off the letters “The Donald J. Trump And” from the facade, leaving it with its original name, the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. But scaffolding was erected and a tarp installed that conceals the work, and it has remained ever since.

In an order on Wednesday, Cooper called for a joint status report by July 31 that explains “the purpose for and status of the tarp and scaffolding that Defendants have erected on the front portico of the Center, to the extent they remain at that time.”

Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH), an ex officio member of the board, sued Trump and the Kennedy Center earlier this year, arguing that only Congress could change the name of the institution as they had designated it as a memorial to John F. Kennedy in 1964, a year after his assassination.

Beatty’s legal team has called the placement of the tarp at the facade a “petty act of defiance.” But the center has said that the tarp remains to address the need to maintain marble and soffit panels.

In his decision last month, the judge also concluded that the Kennedy Center board failed to consider the full impact of its plans to close the center for two years, starting on July 5, for renovations. He ruled that the renovations could continue, but the board had to conduct a more comprehensive review before shuttering the complex.

Last week, Kennedy Center executive director Matthew Floca said in a court filing that the board will consider three options in mid-July, including a full closure with no programming, a partial closure with limited programming, and phased closures with more on-site programming.

Beatty’s lawyers, though, argued that the current management has confirmed “that they plan to turn the Kennedy Center into a lifeless husk by refusing to take any steps to maintain the Center’s operations.” They argued that, despite the judge’s order, the center will be effectively shutting down the center anyway and will be “implementing their shutdown decision by inertia.”

In his Wednesday order, though, Cooper declined Beatty’s request that the center certify that they have taken “good faith steps to resume meaningful programming.” The judge wrote, “Plaintiff may renew her motion for an order requiring proof of compliance, but the Court declines to order further sworn declarations at this time.”

One of the center’s last major events on the current Kennedy Center schedule will be the Mark Twain Prize on Sunday, to be presented to Bill Maher and to be shown on Netflix next month. Also planned is “The Freedom Gathering: A Musical Celebration,” set for July 3, in which a 300-member choir will be joined by TaRanda Greene, Charles Billingsley and Ernie Hasse & Signature Sound in a celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States.