A federal appeals court has issued an emergency ruling forbidding the government from carving President Trump’s name onto the U.S. Institute of Peace’s headquarters building.
The Department of Justice had offered assurances that there were no immediate plans to carve the president’s name onto the facade, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia seemed unconvinced.
In a 2-1 ruling a panel of judges issued the blockade.
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The case is the latest to address Mr. Trump’s Washington makeover, joining others that address his plans for the Kennedy Center, his construction of a ballroom at the White House, his renovations for the golf course at East Potomac Park, and his vision of a triumphal arch at the foot of Memorial Bridge.
The arguments over the USIP building are part of a broader dispute over Mr. Trump’s effort to shutter the independent agency. The State Department assumed control of the agency and the building, though that is still being challenged.
Mr. Trump’s name has been added to the building in external lettering.
The State Department did solicit prices last spring for what it would cost to carve Mr. Trump’s name on the building. But McKaye Neumeister, a Justice Department lawyer, told the appeals court that the State Department didn’t move forward with the idea.
“There are no current plans to engrave the president’s name on the USIP building,” the lawyer said.
Mr. Trump’s opponents had argued that carving his name on the building would be an affront to the agency, which was set up by Congress to be an independent nonprofit group.
“Having its building branded with the name of a president would signal incorrectly that USIP is part of or dependent upon the Executive Branch, or at minimum that USIP lacks the independence that has been critical to its effectiveness over 40 years,” the challengers argued.
Two appeals court judges, both Democratic appointees, sided with the challengers. A George H.W. Bush pick dissented.
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