The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts must remove Donald Trump’s name from the building.
A ruling Friday from U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ends the “unlawful effort” to rename the institution the Trump Kennedy Center. Per the order, all signage with the “Trump Kennedy Center” name must be removed within 14 days.
“Congress named the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, for President John F. Kennedy by federal statute, and the Center may not be officially named for anyone else except by an Act of Congress,” the ruling states.
The ruling also temporarily stops the planned closure of the center on July 5 for two years of renovations.
This comes after a lawsuit filed by Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, who is an ex officio member of the Kennedy Center’s Board of Trustees. She initially filed suit after the board, which was handpicked by Trump, voted to rename the center in December 2025 and amended her lawsuit to include the closure, which was announced in February 2025.
“Today’s ruling rightly affirms that this administration’s efforts to rename and close the Center have no basis in law,” said Congresswoman Beatty. “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.”
Beatty’s suit came after she was blocked from attending board meetings and voting, namely when board members voted to rename the center the Trump-Kennedy Center in December. She was able to attend the center’s March 16 meeting, but was not able to vote.
At that meeting, the board moved to vote for the two-year closure of the center starting July 7, due to what Trump has described as necessary renovations. However, the planned closure also comes after a number of artists pulled their concerts and programming from the center, in protest of Trump naming himself chair and appointing new board members. That made the upcoming schedule of programming unclear.
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