Kennedy Center Obeys Court By Repeating Violation In Larger Letters
The Kennedy Center board achieved a landmark advance in constitutional law Thursday, voting to restore President Donald Trump’s name to the building after determining that court orders apply only when printed in the same font. The Trump-aligned board approved an inscription reading “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump” beneath the John F. Kennedy Center signage and renamed the surrounding grounds “President Donald J. Trump Plaza,” thereby complying with a ruling by U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper that only Congress may rename the center and that Trump’s previously installed name must be removed.
Board members explained that returning the same name in a slightly different grammatical arrangement does not constitute defiance, but “creative compliance,” the legal principle under which a prohibited act becomes lawful once accompanied by improved kerning. “Nobody respects judges more than I do, and nobody follows orders more perfectly,” Trump said. “The judge said we could not rename the building, so we did not rename it. We simply put my name everywhere and made the letters extremely constitutional.” Officials said the distinction was obvious because the Kennedy Center remains technically named for John F. Kennedy, whose role has been preserved as the smaller historical figure standing near the Trump inscription.
Rep. Joyce Beatty, who successfully challenged the original renaming, described the maneuver as a transparent attempt to circumvent Cooper’s ruling, apparently overlooking transparency’s longstanding status as a performing art. The board also revived plans to close most of the center for two years of renovations despite Cooper blocking an earlier closure proposal. Administrators said preventing audiences from entering would protect American culture from exposure to theater, music and other activities traditionally associated with the Kennedy Center. Federal agencies are now expected to follow the board’s precedent by obeying judges through the disciplined performance of precisely what judges prohibited, provided the violation includes a plaque, a plaza and a sufficiently reverent typeface. The Kennedy Center has therefore complied fully with the court by doing the forbidden thing again, more permanently.
* None of the quotes in this article were spoken by an actual person. More info.