The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals declined President Donald Trump’s request on Wednesday to pause removal of his name from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
The appeals court said the Trump administration had “not satisfied the stringent requirements” to grant their request for a pause while they appealed the lower court’s decision.
“Appellants have failed to demonstrate irreparable harm,” the judges ordered. “We need not address whether Appellants have any likelihood of success on the merits.”
A showing of irreparable harm to an appellant or the public is a necessary prerequisite to grant a stay.
The federal appeals court cited three reasons for denying Trump’s request to pause the lower court’s ruling.
First, the Trump administration argued the removal of his name would cause irreparable harm in regards to expense and time wasted. The president’s name has already been removed, so granting a stay would not avert those harms, the judges said.
Lawyers for the federal government also alleged there would be financial harm to the Kennedy Center if Trump’s name cannot be reinstated, which could impede fundraising efforts and lead to financial decline.
The Trump administration “failed to support this assertion with any specific facts or evidence,” the appeals court wrote.
Lastly, the government argued a new entity called the Trump Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Foundation will no longer be able to fundraise and will be forced to return all money raised if the president’s name is not allowed to return.
The Trump administration never raised this argument prior to the lower district court’s ruling, according to the judges, and gave no explanation for failing to do so.
“Such a post hoc argument cannot demonstrate an abuse of discretion by the district court,” the ruling said, adding that arguments made for the first time on appeal are forfeited, barring exceptional circumstances.
The lower district court’s decision was handed down on May 29, when Washington-based Judge Christopher Cooper ordered the Trump name removed from the Kennedy Center and blocked the closure of the building for two years for renovations.
Congress formed the center as a “bureau” within the Smithsonian Institution directed by a board of trustees with “programming obligations,” “memorial obligations” honoring the legacy of Kennedy, and general maintenance obligations, the judge said.
Congress empowered the board to “do the kinds of things that boards typically do: negotiate contracts, prepare budgets, employ personnel, solicit and accept gifts, transfer property, bargain with employees, procure insurance, and issue annual reports,” Cooper wrote in his ruling.
The center’s board had unanimously voted in favor of renaming the building the Trump-Kennedy Center. The same day, the president’s name was added on the outside along with digital rebranding.
Beatty’s lawsuit also claimed the center’s board violated its fiduciary duties when it voted to close the center for renovations. The judge agreed with this claim.
“Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it,” Cooper said in his decision. “The Board was derelict in discharging the full range of its responsibilities to the Center.”
Trump had criticized Cooper’s ruling at the time, saying he will work to give the center’s board of trustees direct control over the institution.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment regarding the appeals court’s Wednesday ruling at the time of this publication.
