U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ordered Kennedy Center officials to remove Trump’s name from the building within two weeks, ruling on a lawsuit filed by U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio). The judge also granted Beatty’s request for a preliminary injunction to block Trump — for now — from taking any further steps toward closing the institution. The move by the Kennedy Center‘s board of trustees to add President Donald Trump‘s name to the D.C. cultural institution was illegal, a federal judge ruled Friday.
“Today’s ruling rightly affirms that this administration’s efforts to rename and close the Center have 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,” said Betty
Legal experts have previously said the renaming of the center is illegal, because a 1964 federal law established its name as “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts” in honor of the slain president and explicitly prohibits the board of trustees from adding any other name to the building.
“The Court has concluded that the Board overstepped its statutory bounds by unilaterally renaming the Kennedy Center after President Trump,” Cooper wrote in his May 29 ruling on Beatty’s motion. “Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it.”
In a related ruling Friday on a suit filed by the DC Preservation League against the Kennedy Center’s board, Cooper denied the group’s request for a preliminary injunction to stop additional renovations to the center “because it has not shown a likelihood of success” on the lawsuit’s legal merits.
The judge directed the parties “to meet and confer in good faith to discuss appropriate next steps in this proceeding” and requested a joint status report with their proposals within seven days “to elucidate the scope and timing of the Kennedy Center renovation project, as well as any efforts by the Center to engage in regulatory review and permitting, voluntarily or otherwise.”
“We applaud the court’s decision to block Trump’s attempt to unlawfully rename and close the Kennedy Center,” said Norm Eisen, co-founder and board member of Democracy Defenders Action, and Nathaniel Zelinsky, senior counsel at the Washington Litigation Group, who are representing Beatty in the matter. “This ruling sends an important message: the rule of law matters. This is a powerful blow against the Trump administration’s corruption.”
Trump earlier this year had said the Kennedy Center would shut down for two years starting July 4, 2026, to undergo a “complete rebuilding.”With $257 million secured by President Trump and approved by Congress, the resources are in place as the Kennedy Center’s board remain committed to pursuing every lawful avenue to ensure the Trump Kennedy Center is restored as a national cultural landmark for all Americans to enjoy.
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