(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Two liberal federal judges on Friday blocked two recent initiatives carried out by President Donald Trump: the renaming of the Kennedy Center and the creation of a nearly $1.8 billion fund to compensate victims of government weaponization.
First, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper of Washington, D.C., claimed that the Trump administration’s inclusion of the president’s name in the Kennedy Center was unlawful under federal law.
Cooper, appointed to the bench by then-President Barack Obama in 2014, wrote in his order that “Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it.”
The lawsuit was filed on December 22 by Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, who is also an “ex officio member” of the Trump-Kennedy Center’s board.
Cooper also ruled that the Trump-appointed board overstepped its authority when it fired “ex officio trustees” and that the planned closure for renovations was unlawful.
Trump swiftly tore into Cooper in two lengthy and fiery responses to the order, saying that Cooper and the radical left “would rather see” the Trump-Kennedy Center “DIE” than have it transformed.
“There has never been a President of the United States who has been treated so unfairly by the Courts as I but, that’s OK, I will continue to do, what is considered to be, a great job for the wonderful people of our Country,” Trump added.
The ruling came as another federal judge moved against the DOJ’s creation of its $1.776 billion weaponization fund.
U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema of the Eastern District of Virginia temporarily blocked the fund pending litigation.
The fund was the product of a settlement between Trump and the IRS after the federal agency failed to keep a self-described whistleblower from leaking the president’s confidential tax returns to the legacy media.
Appointed to the bench by then-President Bill Clinton in 1993, Brinkema said the restraining order was intended to “ensure that no funds are irreversibly disbursed” before a preliminary hearing.
The lawsuit against the fund was filed earlier on May 22 by a former federal prosecutor, the City of New Haven, the National Abortion Federation and Common Cause.
A DOJ spokesperson dismissed the order and defended the legality of the fund in remarks to the media.
“The Department remains extremely confident in the legality of the Anti-Weaponization Fund which is supported by ample precedent, including Obama-era settlements,” the DOJ spokesperson told Politico. “We will not allow the policy preferences of judges to interfere with our efforts to provide restitution to victims of lawfare.”
The separate orders come as Democrats and left-wing activists continue filing lawsuits aimed at halting key Trump administration initiatives following their damning defeat in the 2024 presidential election.
