Lawyers for President Trump and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Thursday filed an appeal of an order to remove the president’s name from the institution.
The notice of appeal was filed as a legal deadline loomed for taking Mr. Trump’s name off the building’s marble facade. It also challenged a federal judge’s decision to temporarily block the president’s plan to close the center for two years of renovations.
Earlier on Thursday, the center’s board, which is composed almost entirely of Mr. Trump’s allies, voted to appeal the ruling, according to two people with direct knowledge of the meeting.
Finding that the board did not have the power to unilaterally change the name of the arts center, Judge Christopher R. Cooper of Federal District Court in Washington had ruled that Mr. Trump’s name must be taken down by Friday.
As the clock counts down, lawyers for Mr. Trump and the Kennedy Center, where he is chairman, may decide to seek a stay from Judge Cooper pending their appeal of his decision. If he denies their request, they can ask the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for a stay.
One of the people with knowledge of the board’s meeting on Thursday, which was held virtually, said that Mr. Trump was on the line as board members — and a guest attendee, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick — spoke positively about the president’s influence on the arts center. Later that evening, the appeal hit the docket.
Representatives for the Kennedy Center did not respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Trump’s name was added to the building in December, less than a day after the board voted to rename the institution the “Trump Kennedy Center.” The decision prompted an immediate outcry from Democratic legislators and led to a series of cancellations by artists scheduled to perform there.
Representative Joyce Beatty, a Democrat of Ohio and an ex officio member of the board, filed a lawsuit arguing that the name change was unlawful. Judge Cooper agreed late last month, writing in his order that “Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it.”
At first, Trump-allied officials at the Kennedy Center announced that they would fight the ruling over the name change, saying they were confident that an appellate court would uphold the “board’s will to recognize President Trump’s historic contributions to our nation’s cultural center.”
The plans for an appeal grew less certain after Mr. Trump responded to the judge’s ruling with a tirade on social media. Unless he had control over the center’s affairs, Mr. Trump wrote, he had “no interest in continuing what could only be a hopeless journey into ‘NEVER NEVER LAND.’”
Last week, Kennedy Center officials instructed staff members to remove Mr. Trump’s name from the center’s website, as well as its email blasts, social media accounts and official forms. The memo sent to the staff acknowledged that outdoor signage would need to be removed by Friday.
Judge Cooper ordered that the center file with the court a sworn declaration “from a responsible official of the Kennedy Center” that it had complied with the order.
In his order, the judge scrutinized the board’s assessment of the president’s plan to shutter the center for two years, finding that it had been “derelict” in its responsibility to consider the consequences of such a decision. But he also said he would not permanently prevent a closure if the board did a more thorough review.
In his 94-page order, the judge noted that board members were more than “mere figureheads.”
“They are still duty-bound to fulfill their roles with due care and some modicum of independence,” Judge Cooper wrote. “That tenet holds especially true for board members tasked by Congress with managing property held in trust for the enjoyment of the American people.”
An appeal of the judge’s decision only deepens the uncertainty at the institution as it faces what could be an extended legal fight.
Since Mr. Trump took over the Kennedy Center, it has seen a cascade of artist boycotts, declining ticket sales and upheaval in its leadership ranks. Its staff has been depleted by firings, departures and layoffs. For months, the center had been preparing to close after Independence Day, leaving its programming calendar largely bare.
Earlier Thursday, journalists and onlookers gathered at the Kennedy Center in anticipation of the president’s name being taken down. A parking lot sign had white tape pasted over the word “Trump,” and by the end of the day, buses that were lined up in front of the building had new stickers with the center’s original name on them. Once word spread that the board had voted to appeal the ruling, the visitors trickled out.
Elizabeth Williamson contributed reporting.
