Judge Orders Kennedy Center to Remove Trump’s Name From Building Within Two Weeks, Halts Planned Two-Year Closure for Renovation

The move by the Kennedy Center‘s board of trustees to add President Donald Trump‘s name to the D.C. cultural institution was illegal, a federal judge ruled Friday.

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ordered Kennedy Center officials to remove Trump’s name from the building within two weeks, ruling on a lawsuit filed by U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio). The judge also granted Beatty’s request for a preliminary injunction to block Trump — for now — from taking any further steps toward closing the institution. Trump earlier this year had said the Kennedy Center would shut down for two years starting July 4, 2026, to undergo a “complete rebuilding.”

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“The Court has concluded that the Board overstepped its statutory bounds by unilaterally renaming the Kennedy Center after President Trump,” Cooper wrote in his May 29 ruling on Beatty’s motion. “Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it.”

Because Trump and the Kennedy Center board are “currently in violation of Congress’s express statutory direction, the Court will order that they remove President Trump’s name from the institution’s title, as represented on the façade of the Center, any other physical or digital signage, and official materials,” the judge said in the ruling.

In a statement, Roma Daravi, VP of public relations for the center, said, “We are confident that on appeal the court will uphold the Board’s will to recognize President Trump’s historic contributions to our nation’s cultural center.”

Regarding the ruling that halts Trump’s planned renovation of the Kennedy Center, Daravi said, “We will review the decision carefully though the reality remains — the Center requires an urgent and significant restoration – a truth that even the plaintiff acknowledges. With $257 million secured by President Trump and approved by Congress, the resources are in place and we remain committed to pursuing every lawful avenue to ensure the Trump Kennedy Center is restored as a national cultural landmark for all Americans to enjoy.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Legal experts have previously said the renaming of the center is illegal, because a 1964 federal law established its name as “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts” in honor of the slain president and explicitly prohibits the board of trustees from adding any other name to the building. In December, Beatty sued Trump and the Kennedy Center’s board seeking to force the removal of Trump’s name from the organization.

Beatty said in a statement, “Today’s ruling rightly affirms that this administration’s efforts to rename and close the Center have no basis in law. The Kennedy Center is an institution that belongs to the American people, not to Donald Trump. He has desecrated this sacred memorial for his own vanity. I am proud to have fought for the rule of law and to protect this sacred institution.”

n a related ruling Friday on a suit filed by the DC Preservation League against the Kennedy Center’s board, Cooper denied the group’s request for a preliminary injunction to stop additional renovations to the center “because it has not shown a likelihood of success” on the lawsuit’s legal merits. The judge directed the parties “to meet and confer in good faith to discuss appropriate next steps in this proceeding” and requested a joint status report with their proposals within seven days “to elucidate the scope and timing of the Kennedy Center renovation project, as well as any efforts by the Center to engage in regulatory review and permitting, voluntarily or otherwise.”

After his election to a second term as U.S. president, Trump ousted the Kennedy Center’s previous Democratic board members and management team and installed himself as chairman. In December, the White House said the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees (who were selected by Trump) voted unanimously to rename the facility the “Trump Kennedy Center.” 

The purported full new name of the arts institution is “The Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.” Workers affixed Trump’s name to the building’s exterior (above Kennedy’s) on Dec. 19, a day after the White House announced the board’s vote on the name change.

After the Kennedy Center’s name change to add Trump, multiple artists canceled engagements at the famed arts center. Those have included Philip Glass, Renée Fleming, “Wicked” composer Stephen Schwartz, Béla Fleck and a production of “Hamilton.”