A federal judge ordered the Kennedy Center on Wednesday to submit a report explaining why a tarp that is blocking the building’s front sign remains up after workers removed President Donald Trump’s name this month.
The report is due within seven days of the Kennedy Center’s next Board of Trustees meeting or by the end of July, whichever comes first.
“The joint status report shall apprise the Court of any pertinent factual developments as to plans for future construction and operations at the Kennedy Center,” the court document states. “The report shall also indicate 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.”
A spokesperson for the Kennedy Center previously said the tarp remains in place to allow workers to repair the marble facade around the building’s sign, according to the Washington Post. It is unclear when the white covering will be taken down.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, ordered the removal of Trump’s name last month in response to a lawsuit filed by Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH). The Kennedy Center ultimately complied with the order, but workers didn’t remove the president’s name until hours after the court-ordered June 12 deadline had passed.
The judge determined the Kennedy Center trustees bypassed Congress by renaming the memorial to honor Trump without legislative approval. Congress named the center after President John F. Kennedy two months following his 1963 assassination.
In his initial order, Cooper also temporarily blocked the Trump administration from closing the Kennedy Center for a planned two-year renovation that would have started on July 5. In response, the Kennedy Center’s leadership said there is no plan to schedule or host any new performances at the theater while remaining open to the public.
The administration is actively appealing the judge’s order.
Many Democrats have complained about the tarp obscuring Kennedy’s name on the performing arts center.
“A literal coverup, to add to all the others. Nobody’s fooled,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) posted on X. “Trump and his team got caught vandalizing federal property by posting graffiti with his name on the Kennedy Center and a judge shut them down. It will be a beautiful day when the name of the Kennedy Center is restored to visibility. And the vandal should pay for all the repair work—not the taxpayers.”
SEE IT: PHOTO CONFIRMS TRUMP’S NAME HAS BEEN TAKEN OFF KENNEDY CENTER
In a court document filed on Monday, Beatty said the tarp demonstrated Trump’s “petty defiance” of the order.
Activist organization Hands Off the Arts released photos taken from behind the tarp on Tuesday, confirming Trump’s name was gone from the center’s marble facade.