A federal judge heard arguments on Thursday in the latest challenge to the Trump-controlled Kennedy Center‘s effort to install the president’s name on the complex, this time twice on its facade and once to designate the grounds for him.

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, however, stopped the center’s lawyer from bringing up the “dilapidated” condition of the center, referring to it as a “non sequitur” to the issue at hand: Whether the board can return Trump’s name to prominent locations at the complex.

Earlier this month, the Kennedy Center board voted to add “Renovated and Restored by President Donald J. Trump” to the front facade below the inscription, “The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.” Once a $100 million threshold is met for an endowment, another inscription would be placed below that one to read, “Endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund.”

The board also voted to rename “the physical site and grounds upon which the center sits” as the “President Donald J. Trump Plaza.”

Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH), an ex officio member of the board, is seeking a court order to stop the naming, as her attorneys argued that it violates a statute and the judge’s previous order. After the center’s board voted to add Trump’s name to the center, rebranding it as the Trump Kennedy Center, Beatty sued, arguing that only Congress could change the name of the complex, as it was designated as a memorial to President John F. Kennedy in 1964. Cooper agreed, and issued a preliminary injunction in June that forced the center to revert to the original name and remove lettering on the front facade of the complex.

At the hearing, DOJ attorney Brantley Mayers, representing the center, argued that the latest plans for recognizing Trump are not a “renaming.” He also contended that it did not violate a congressional law in 1983 that restricted any other memorials at the complex. He noted that the board’s resolution “was quite clear that it wanted to recognize” Trump’s “ongoing contributions,” as memorials recognize something that happened in the past.

But Cooper noted that the planned inscriptions are written in past tense.

Earlier this week, in a court filing, the center’s attorneys warned that if Trump’s name wasn’t returned to the center, it would jeopardize its future, even pointing to the potential need for demolition.

The judge declined to go into those arguments, stopping Mayers as he started to talk of the condition of the complex.

“That is all fine and good, but what does that have to do with what Congress intended?” the judge asked. He later said that nothing in his earlier order prevented the center from proceeding with renovations, with Congress allocating more than $250 million for repairs as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Nathaniel Zelinsky, one of Beatty’s attorneys, said that the name change plans were an “outright defiance” of the judge’s injunction and an act of “massive bad faith.” He argued returning Trump’s name to the complex amounted to a rebranding, while Congress also intended the grounds and land the center sits on to solely honor Kennedy. He pointed to a past proposal, ultimately never realized, to construct a Kennedy Plaza on the grounds, saying that it was “another indication Congress didn’t intend name [the complex] for anyone other than Kennedy.”

Mayers, though, argued that Congress did not prevent the board from designating areas of the center for certain individuals. When Cooper asked if that meant the board could recognize Barack Obama or George W. Bush at certain parts of the complex, like a garage, Mayers agreed.

Beatty sat with her attorneys during the hearing. Also there was Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, whose wife, Allison, is among the board members. During a brief break to address an audio issue, Lutnick huddled with DOJ lawyers.

The judge raised some jurisdictional concerns over ruling on Beatty’s emergency motion as Trump is appealing. He did not indicate exactly when he would rule, but pressed Mayers on the deadline of Sept. 8. The center has committed to refraining from installing Trump’s name until that date, but not after. Mayers said that the timing was the board’s decision.

The judge also sounded weary that he was being asked to render a ruling so quickly, during a high time for summer vacation.

In his May ruling, the judge also barred the center from embarking on a two-year closure for the renovations, concluding that the board failed to consider options and the full impact. In the meeting this month, the board considered options presented by a consultant, and against moved to shutter almost all of the complex. The judge’s injunction, though, remains in effect.

EXCLUSIVE: In March 2005, one freshman ABC drama, David E. Kelley‘s Boston Legal, wrapped its season in the Sunday 10 PM slot to make room for another rookie, Grey’s Anatomy starring Ellen Pompeo, which launched in the time period a week later.

Twenty one years after that handover, Pompeo and Kelley have come together for a new drama project, Not a Sound, in which Pompeo, known for her role as Dr. Meredith Grey on Grey’s Anatomy, will play another medical professional. It has been set up at Hulu for development through 20th Television where the Kelley was once based for 22 years and where Pompeo is under an overall deal.

Not a Sound is written by David E. Kelley Productions President Matthew Tinker and Annakate Chappell — who worked together as writers on Kelley’s Big Sky –– based on Heather Gudenkauf’s novel of the same name, with Azazel Jacobs (His Three Daughters) set to direct.

In it, after losing her hearing in a devastating hit-and-run, disgraced ER nurse Amelia Winn (Pompeo) and her fiercely loyal service dog discover the murdered body of a former colleague — pulling Amelia into a deadly mystery that could finally reveal the truth about the accident that changed her life.

Chappell executive produces alongside Jacobs and David E. Kelley Prods.’ Kelley and Tinker and Calamity Jane’s Pompeo and Laura Holstein. 20th Television is the studio.

Pompeo recently received two green lights from Hulu, for a second season of anthology series Good American Family, which she is executive producing, and dramedy pilot Chicks, which she is starring in and executive produces. She is partnered on both with Katie Robbins.

Additionally, Pompeo stars in and executive produces ABC’s venerable medical drama Grey’s Anatomy, which is headed into its 23rd season. She also executive produced spinoff series Station 19 and is an executive producer on the upcoming Grey’s offshoot set in West Texas, which will premiere in midseason 2027. Pompeo is repped by CAA, Linden Entertainment and Hansen Jacobson.

Tinker oversees David E. Kelley Prods.’ slate across film, television, and new media. He executive produces for the company the upcoming second seasons of Apple TV’s Presumed Innocent and Margo’s Got Money Troubles as well as the new Netflix series Myron Bolitar. As a writer, he worked on Kelley’s ABC drama series Big Sky, which 20th TV co-produced with A+E Studios, alongside Chappell. Tinker is repped by CAA and Yorn, Levine, Barnes.

Chappell is a supervising producer on CBS’ hit drama series Tracker and is writing the feature Bingo, with Robin Wright attached to direct and star. She is repped by CAA, Echo Lake and Yorn, Levine, Barnes.

Jacobs’ 2024 Netflix film His Three Daughters earned him a Gotham Award and Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay. In television, Jacobs served as co-writer and executive producer on Doll & Em for Sky/HBO and directed both seasons. He is repped by CAA, manager Stuart Manishil at Novo, and attorney Jerry Dasti.

Gudenkauf was repped in the deal by Lucy Stille at Lucy Stille Literary on behalf of Marianne Merola at Brandt & Hochman Literary agents.

As Adults returns tonight for Season 2, the show apparently has Julia Fox‘s witchy ways to thank.

Lucy Freyer, who plays Billie Schaeffer on the FX comedy, recently revealed that the Season 1 guest star “put a curse on” the Ben Kronengold and Rebecca Shaw-created series, which releases all Season 2 episodes Thursday at 9pm ET/6pm PT on Hulu.

“She was like, ‘I wanna come back next season, and the season you don’t bring me back is the season you’re gonna get canceled,’” she told Refinery29 Australia. “And I was like, she put a curse on us, and I believe it. And now, she has to be in every season of the show for as long as it runs. And I’m like, ‘OK!’”

Freyer added, “The fact that she wants to come back, this feels like a blessing. She’s the best. She improvs so much, and she’s so funny. They wrote the script for her, obviously, both times. And then, there were times she’d come in, she’d be like, ‘OK, I don’t think I’d say this, I think I’d say this.’”

In Adults, a group of five 20-somethings in New York City attempt to master adulthood while sharing their friend Samir’s (Malik Elassal) family home he has to himself. The show also stars Freyer, Owen Thiele, Amita Rao and Jack Innanen.