A federal judge on Friday denied the Kennedy Center’s last-minute bid to delay removing President Donald Trump’s name from the performing arts building, clearing the way for crews to begin the removal as a court-ordered deadline took effect.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper rejected the Kennedy Center’s request for a stay of his May 29 ruling, which found that Trump’s name was illegally added to the iconic Washington venue. In that earlier order, Cooper gave the center 14 days to remove all references to Trump’s name from the building’s facade, website, and other materials.
The judge’s reasoning centered on a legal principle: only Congress has the authority to change the Kennedy Center’s official name. “Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it,” Cooper wrote in his May ruling. The board of trustees, he concluded, had overstepped its legal authority by unilaterally rebranding the facility.
Late Thursday, the Kennedy Center’s board voted to seek a stay of Cooper’s order, mounting what the Washington Post called a “last-ditch motion” to keep Trump’s name on the building. But Cooper refused the request Friday, leaving the removal to proceed.
Workers began erecting scaffolding around sections of the Kennedy Center that display Trump’s name as the Friday deadline approached. The center’s website had already removed Trump’s name from its branding by June 8, and internal communications from the Kennedy Center’s Office of General Counsel instructed staff to use only “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts” or “Kennedy Center” in official materials.
The board voted in December 2025 to rename the center the “Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts” and the “Trump Kennedy Center.” Trump had ousted the center’s previous leadership early in his second term and replaced it with a board composed largely of his allies, who then voted unanimously to add his name.
In his May ruling, Cooper also blocked the Trump administration’s plan to close the Kennedy Center for a two-year renovation, finding that the closure would violate federal law. The judge determined that Congress, not the board or the administration, had the power to institute such a major change to the venue’s operations.
Sources
- AP News — Judge’s denial of Kennedy Center’s request for pause; details of May 29 ruling and legal basis
- The Washington Post — Last-ditch motion and scaffolding erection on removal deadline
- Reuters — Trump administration’s appeal of the ruling; Congress authority statement
- The New York Times — Kennedy Center board appeal details; Judge Cooper’s ruling on Congress authority
- CNN — Board composition and timeline of renaming vote
