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Workers removed U.S. President Donald Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center early Saturday, complying with a federal judge’s ruling that the Washington performing arts venue cannot be renamed without an act of Congress.
The predawn operation began around 1:20 a.m., less than six months after Trump’s name was placed on the building.
Workers erected scaffolding late Friday, covered it with tarps and began removing the letters from the facade around 3:10 a.m. The removal took about 30 minutes.
The work followed unsuccessful attempts by the administration to delay enforcement of the court order.
The Department of Justice said in a late Friday court filing that the government would miss the 11:59 p.m. deadline for removing Trump’s name because thunderstorms could create safety risks for workers.
The department requested a 12-hour extension.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty of Ohio, who filed the lawsuit that led to the removal order, called the extension request “inexcusable” and described it as part of “a pattern of non-compliance,” according to the filing.
Hours earlier, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper had rejected the Justice Department’s request to pause the removal order while an appeals court considered the case.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia also rejected the government’s request for a pause Friday.
The White House and the Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Cooper ruled May 29 that only Congress had the authority to rename the Kennedy Center.
His order required Trump’s name to be removed from the building’s facade, website and other materials.
The Justice Department argued that removing the name before the appeal was resolved could result in repeated changes to the venue’s signage.
“It does not make sense to alter the Center’s name and signage now, only to potentially revert the name again after what should be a successful appeal,” the department said in a court filing.
The administration appealed Cooper’s ruling, but the removal proceeded after both the district court and appeals court declined to suspend the order.
The Kennedy Center’s board, chaired by Trump, voted in December to rename the venue the Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.
Workers began installing Trump’s name on the building the following day.
The center opened in 1971 as a memorial to President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963.
Trump filled the center’s board of trustees with allies after returning to office last year.
Trump announced in February that the Kennedy Center would close for two years for a major renovation.
The project forms part of a broader effort by Trump to reshape Washington’s monumental center.
His plans include a 250-foot, or 75-meter, arch and a 90,000-square-foot, or 8,400-square-meter, ballroom on the site of the White House East Wing, which he had demolished in October.
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