Workers began removing President Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center facade early Saturday morning after a federal judge denied last-ditch legal attempts to halt the removal, completing a dramatic court-ordered reversal of the performing arts venue’s name change.
Crews started the removal around 1:20 a.m. on June 13, stripping 18 letters reading “The Donald J. Trump and” from the building’s exterior, according to the Washington Post. The work came several hours after the Kennedy Center missed a federal judge’s two-week deadline to comply on Friday, June 12.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper had ordered the removal on May 29, 2026, ruling that the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees acted illegally when it voted in December 2025 to rename the institution. Trump’s name had appeared on the facade for 176 days. Once the removal is complete, the building will read “The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts” once again.
The ruling stemmed from a lawsuit filed by Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), an ex officio trustee who sued her fellow board members after being muted during a virtual meeting when she tried to voice opposition to the name change. Cooper agreed with her argument that Congress, not the board, has authority over the institution’s name. “Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name,” Cooper wrote in his 94-page ruling, “and only Congress can change it.”
Congress established the Kennedy Center in 1964, just two months after President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, designating it as “a living memorial” to the slain president. The judge cited that legislative history as “crystal clear” evidence that the board lacked the power to rename the institution unilaterally.
On Friday, the Kennedy Center and the Justice Department made multiple attempts to delay the removal. Judge Cooper rejected their request at 1 p.m., ruling they had failed to demonstrate they were likely to win an appeal or that the center would suffer “irreparable harm.” The Justice Department then appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which denied the emergency motion shortly after 7 p.m. Friday evening.
The Kennedy Center had cited weather as a reason for missing the Friday deadline, filing a request around midnight to extend the deadline to noon Saturday. Crews had erected scaffolding next to the building on Friday in preparation for the work, and according to the Post, a crowd of more than 100 people gathered to watch the proceedings, with some carrying signs and celebrating what they viewed as a victory for the rule of law.
Beatty visited the Kennedy Center on Friday evening and later posted a video on Instagram from inside the building, celebrating her legal victory. “You can fight against injustices and win,” she said, according to reporting from the Washington Post.
The removal represents a significant setback for Trump’s broader effort to transform the institution. In February 2025, Trump purged the Kennedy Center’s board and replaced it with political allies who then elected him board chair. Those loyalists voted to rename the center in December, claiming it was a bipartisan recognition of his contributions to the arts. Trump’s name appeared on the website within hours of the board vote and on the building’s exterior the next morning. Justice Department lawyers later acknowledged that the signage had been “prepared and/or purchased prior to the Board’s vote the day before,” indicating the rebranding had been planned in advance.
The renaming sparked immediate backlash from the arts community and members of the Kennedy family, who argued it desecrated a living memorial to an assassinated president. Cooper’s ruling also temporarily blocked the center’s planned two-year closure for renovations, which Trump had announced in February 2025, though the judge left open the possibility for the board to reconsider that decision more carefully.
Sources
- The Washington Post — detailed reporting on the removal process, court proceedings, and reactions from Rep. Beatty and the public
- AP News — coverage of workers beginning the removal and the court-ordered deadline
- Reuters — reporting on the predawn removal operation and the missed deadline
- PBS NewsHour — coverage of the judge’s ruling and the legal challenges to it
- NBC News — reporting on the judge’s temporary halt of the closure and the name removal order
- Congresswoman Joyce Beatty official website — statement on the court ruling and the reversal of the unlawful renaming
