Judge clears way for Trump's name to be removed from Kennedy Center as last-ditch appeal fails

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper denied the Kennedy Center's request late Friday afternoon, leaving in place his May 29 ruling that adding the president's name to the performing arts center was illegal and must be reversed. Within hours, workers in bright yellow jackets erected scaffolding near the section of the building where Trump's name appears, as a crowd of about a dozen people chanted "take it off."

The court battle

Cooper ruled last month that only Congress has the authority to rename the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, a memorial to the assassinated president. His order gave the centre two weeks to remove all references to Trump. The board, whose members were appointed by Trump after he ousted the previous leadership, voted Thursday to appeal and sought an emergency stay. Justice Department lawyers representing the centre argued that removing the name would cause irreparable harm, but Cooper found they had failed to show a likelihood of success on appeal.

Fallout inside the institution

Even before Friday's ruling, the centre had begun erasing Trump's presence. A June 4 memo from the Office of General Counsel instructed staff to use "The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts" or "Kennedy Center" on letterhead, email signatures and other documents. By Monday, the website had dropped "Trump" from its title. An email offering ticket packages for the June 28 Mark Twain Prize ceremony went out under the old, unadorned Kennedy Center name.

Trump's takeover and response

The president took control of the centre in February 2025, purging its board and installing loyalists who named him chairman. In December, those trustees voted to rename the venue, and the next morning the building's sign read "The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts." The speed of the installation later led Justice Department lawyers to acknowledge that the signage had been prepared before the vote. Trump reacted to Cooper's initial decision in a social media post, writing in the third person:

“Unfortunately, Judge Cooper and the Radical Left would rather see it DIE than have President Trump transform it into something that everyone could be proud of.”

What comes next

The board could still seek a stay from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Separately, Cooper suspended a plan to close the centre for two years of renovations, ruling that trustees had not considered the negative fallout, though he allowed urgently needed repairs to continue. Trump told reporters he intends to work with Congress to transfer control of the Kennedy Center to his administration.