“…because of ongoing and future efforts by the president…”

 The Kennedy Center:

Washington — A federal judge again blocked the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts' Board of Trustees from adding President Trump's name on the building on Tuesday, finding that a proposed resolution to add Mr. Trump's name to the building "bucks a federal court order and a statute Congress enacted."

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper sided with Rep. Joyce Beatty, a board member who sued last year over Mr. Trump's changes to the Kennedy Center. Beatty, an Ohio Democrat, argued that the board's recent efforts to recognize the president violate federal law, and her legal team asked Cooper to issue emergency relief blocking the changes.

"Defendants are hereby enjoined from inscribing "renovated and restored by Donald J. Trump" on the main building or renaming the campus the "President Donald J. Trump Plaza," Cooper wrote in a 22-page opinion. "Simply put, Defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress's blessing. The board resolution bucks a federal court order and a statute Congress enacted."

Ya gotta love the DOJ’s stalwart attempts to make bricks without straw.

The Justice Department said in court last month that "there is no renaming here," and argued that the proposed inscriptions were meant to honor Mr. Trump because of ongoing and future fundraising efforts by the president to supplement a $257 million congressional stipend for a massive renovation project pushed by the White House.

Trump should be recognized now for what he’s going to do sometime in the future. Maybe. Professor Vladeck is of the opinion finding anything good in recent Supreme Court decisions is like thanking the arsonist for helping to put out the fire he set. It’s the same argument here: Trump ruined the Kennedy Center, but now you have to let him save it. And thank him for it. The way he saved the Reflecting Pool, I guess. (Trump won’t refute the NYT story that the contractor says the hub was fucked up. But he still insists it was vandalism. That bubble is only going to get thicker and harder in January.) Anyway, it’s an argument that might appeal to Alito and Thomas, and almost Kavanaugh. But ordinary people, lawyers included, would laugh it out of the room.

But Trump isn’t going back to court. He’s gonna hold his breath until his face turns blue.

Pay up or the Kennedy Center closes, & the price is Trump's name on the building

That's from the board's meeting materials, one day before they vote on it. An outrageous act of hostage taking@DDAction_ & WLG have beaten this x2 w/@RepBeatty, & we'll beat it a 3rd time -TN https://t.co/jOMdAU95Hp

— Norm Eisen (@NormEisen) September 14, 2026

He's not appealing those decisions; at least not as emergencies. It’s kind of like this court is telling him, over and over: “what you did CAN be undone.” And Trump doesn’t want that to be the ruling of at least five Justices. It’ll bring his whole little world crumbling down.

From the sound of the Patel hearing today, Democrats are looking forward to that.

Addendum: Trump is making noises about an emergency appeal, but I think this will be no. 40, and it probably has to get in line:

Trump said after the vote that the closure “will take place immediately” but that the work can’t be done until the D.C. Circuit rules on the center’s name change to include his name.

“If the ruling is a negative one, which it should not be, and is not overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Reconstruction and the Renovation of The Kennedy Center will not take place,” he wrote on Truth Social. “The attorneys from the DOJ will ask for an expedited appeal.”

Given the actions of the Court recently, I don’t think the Alito “the law means what I want it to mean” school of legal argument is playing well right now. Yes, they let Trump build his ballroom because of jurisdictional/procedural issues; but there were serious questions about his authority (questions not taken seriously enough, IMHLO). Notably, Alito tried the standing argument again in the mail ballot decision, but even Kavanaugh wouldn’t bite. The lower courts are resting on the relevant statutes that established the Kennedy Center. I don’t think there are five votes to explain those statutes away.

The Court’s regular term begins in October. An emergency appeal is an emergency for the appellant, not necessarily the Court. The Court could well decide to set the case for hearing in the new year, and allow Congress to take this one off their docket (by removing Trump’s authority over the Board and the Center). Alito and Thomas might not like it, but it seems the other 7 would like a break from all Trump all the time.

The country certainly would.