A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Trump administration to explain the purpose of a tarp obscuring the Kennedy Center’s facade, setting a July 31 deadline for the explanation after the building’s recent removal of President Donald Trump’s name.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, who has overseen the Kennedy Center case since December, issued the order requiring the administration to report “the purpose and status of the tarp and scaffolding” now covering the building’s exterior. The tarp was installed as workers removed Trump’s name in a predawn operation earlier this month, following Cooper’s May 29 ruling that the Trump administration had unlawfully added the name to the structure in December 2025.
The lawsuit was brought by Democratic Representative Joyce Beatty of Ohio, who also serves on the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees. In his earlier ruling, Judge Cooper determined that only Congress could authorize renaming the Kennedy Center, which Congress had designated as a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy in 1964. Cooper ordered the removal of Trump’s name from the building’s facade, its website, and other materials within two weeks.
The Trump administration appealed Cooper’s May order to a federal appeals court and asked the court to put the ruling on hold, but those efforts failed. Workers then proceeded with the removal, covering the building’s exterior with tarps and scaffolding to conceal the work from public view.
Beatty’s lawyers this week filed a document with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit arguing that the “semi-permanent tarp” obscuring the late President John F. Kennedy’s name appears to be the Trump administration’s “effort to frustrate the restoration of the status quo as it existed prior to the renaming.” Beatty called the obstruction of the facade an “act of petty defiance.”
The Kennedy Center case has become one of several legal battles between the Trump administration and federal judges over the president’s initiatives. In May, Cooper also blocked Trump’s plans to close the Kennedy Center for two years of renovations beginning July 4, ruling that such a closure would violate the institution’s public trust obligations.
The White House and Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the judge’s latest order.
Sources
- The Guardian — Judge’s order requiring explanation of tarp by July 31, details of Trump name removal, and Beatty’s lawsuit
- Reuters — Judge Cooper’s order, administration’s deadline, and characterization of tarp as “semi-permanent”
- PBS — Judge’s ruling that Trump’s name was illegally added to the Kennedy Center and the May 29 court order
- Ohio Capital Journal — Background on Congress designating Kennedy Center as memorial to JFK in 1964
