In Kerson v. Vermont Law School, 79 F.4th 257 (2d Cir. 2023), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit considered whether the permanent concealment of controversial murals violated the mural creator's rights under the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 (VARA) to prevent the intentional modification of his work.

In a unanimous opinion authored by Chief Judge Debra Ann Livingston and joined by Circuit Judge Jose A. Cabranes and Judge Rachel P. Kovner of the District Court for the Eastern District of New York (sitting by designation), the court determined that the murals could be permanently concealed because it did not constitute modifying or destroying the murals under VARA.