Trump’s name must be removed from Kennedy Center, judge orders
President Trump‘s name must be removed from the Kennedy Center, according to an order signed Friday by a D.C. district judge.
The big picture: The ruling is a hit to the president’s effort to renovate the performing arts venue, which was scheduled to close later this year so work could begin. Friday’s order also halted the closure.
- Trump has two weeks to remove his name from the building and signage around the facility, per the order.
What they’re saying: “The Court has concluded that the Board overstepped its statutory bounds by unilaterally renaming the Kennedy Center after President Trump,” U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper wrote in a 94-page ruling.
- “In 1964, Congress deliberately rechristened the ‘National Cultural Center’ the ‘John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,'” Cooper wrote.
- “The text, structure, and evolution of the organic statute makes the institution’s name abundantly clear. Congress likewise took pains to ensure that no other memorial-like dedication would grace the Center’s public spaces.”
- “As stated at the outset, Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it.”
The other side: Trump, in a nearly 600-word Truth Social post late Friday, blasted the judge, lamented his treatment by the courts, and said the Commerce Department would make arrangements to transfer control of the facility to Congress.
- “Unless I am free to do what I do better than anyone else, bring this Institution back, physically, financially, and artistically, I have no interest in continuing what could only be a hopeless journey into ‘NEVER NEVER LAND,'” he wrote.
Catch up quick: Trump dismissed several of the Kennedy Center’s board members in February 2025 and appointed others of his choosing.
- The new board — which includes Trump administration officials and allies like former Attorney General Pam Bondi and Sergio Gor, the U.S. Ambassador to India — elected Trump as chair, approved changing the name of the building and renovating the facility.
- The board was previously comprised of three dozen members appointed to six-year terms, relatively evenly split between President Biden and Trump’s appointees.
Friday’s ruling arose from a suit filed by Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), who claimed in the suit that her voting rights as a board member were stripped in 2025 when the Kennedy Center’s bylaws were amended.
- Beatty also entered a declaration to the court saying that all board members had held voting rights prior to the board making “ex officio” positions “non-voting members.”
- Beatty told Axios in an emailed statement that the ruling reaffirms that the renaming had “no basis in law.”
- “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.”
The other side: Roma Daravi, a spokesperson for the Kennedy Center, told Axios that they are “confident that on appeal the court will uphold the Board’s will to recognize President Trump’s historic contributions to our nation’s cultural center.”
- “We will review the decision carefully, though the reality remains — the Center requires an urgent and significant restoration.”
Zoom in: Trump had previously announced the facility would undergo significant repairs and remodeling, and that while it could remain open as work was done, “you can’t do the same quality job.”
- Repairs would include remediating water drainage to electrical rooms and the parking garage, as well as upgrading theater seats and production improvements.
- Cooper wrote in his decision that while the board and external reports “recommended an assortment of renovation projects, none called for the complete closure of the Center in order to accomplish the repairs.”
- Instead, renovations would be done in phases to allow the building to remain open.
Editor’s note: This story was updated President Trump’s statement.
المصدر: Axios