May 16, 2026 at the Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Performing Arts Center in Washington, DC.
Al Drago | Getty Images News | Getty Images
A federal judge on Friday barred President Donald Trump from adding his name to the Kennedy Center’s name, as he did in late December, ruling that “Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name and only Congress can change it.”
Judge Christopher Cooper ordered that Trump’s name be removed from the center and other cathedral facades within two weeks.
Cooper also temporarily blocked the Washington, D.C., performing arts landmark, which was renamed the Trump Kennedy Center in December, from closing for two years for renovations at the order of the president, who chairs the board of governors.
Mr. Cooper’s order came in response to a lawsuit by Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat and ex-officio director of the Kennedy Center, whose civil lawsuit challenged the center’s closure for renaming and renovations, and its removal of voting rights by the board in May 2025.
Cooper said in his ruling that the Kennedy Center’s board of directors did not balance its obligations to the center in deciding to close it for renovations.
But the judge said in a ruling in the U.S. District Court in Washington that the board could close for that purpose “after independently balancing its multiple obligations to the center in a prudent manner.”
Cooper also said the preliminary injunction “does not prevent the Center from proceeding with its planned capital restoration work.”
President Trump later condemned Cooper’s ruling, but appeared resigned to the idea of stripping Cooper’s name from the Kennedy Center, which the president characterized as badly in need of repair.
“We are going to work with Congress to give this broken system back to Congress so they can decide what to do with it,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
“Judge Cooper should be ashamed!” the president wrote. “I cannot be involved in a situation where danger to the public is openly prevalent.”
The board’s vote to change the center’s name came 10 months after President Trump removed several directors from the board and appointed himself as director. The center’s facade was changed to reflect this decision, as were other signage around the facility.
“Congressman Beatty is entitled to summary judgment on the name change issue,” Cooper wrote Friday.
“The Kennedy Center statute makes clear that the center must be named for President (John) Kennedy and cannot be given any other official name or public monument based on a unilateral decision by the board,” the judge wrote.
“The Kennedy Center’s name was given by Congress, and only Congress can change its name.”
On March 16, 2026, Mindy Levine (LR), who was appointed as a trustee, speaks with U.S. Representative Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) as she waits for the arrival of U.S. President Donald Trump after having lunch with Trump Kennedy Center directors in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC. Photographed on March 16, 2026.
Alex Wong | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Cooper also ordered Beatty to have his voting rights restored as ex-officio trustee.
“Under the Center’s organizational statutes, there is no distinction between the powers of general and ex-officio trustees,” Cooper wrote.
“Nothing in the statute authorizes the board to categorically discriminate between trustees with respect to their fundamental rights,” the judge said.
“And depriving trustees of their voting rights ex officio violates the common law trust principles embedded in the statute, which place trustees on a presumptive equal footing when participating in the operation of the trust.”
“Today’s ruling justly affirms that the current administration’s efforts to rename and close the center have no legal basis,” Beatty said in a statement.
“The Kennedy Center belongs to the American people, not Donald Trump,” Beatty said.
“He desecrated this sacred monument for his own vanity. I am proud to have fought for the rule of law and to protect this sacred institution.”
“This decision sends an important message that the rule of law matters,” Beatty’s attorney, Norm Eisen of Democracy Defenders Action, and Nathaniel Zelinsky, senior counsel at the Washington Litigation Group, said in a statement.
“This is a powerful blow against Trump administration corruption,” they said.
A spokesperson for the Justice Department, which is representing Trump in the case, said: “The Department is pleased that the court has rejected the challenge to the renovation of the Trump Kennedy Center, and we continue to defend President Trump’s ability to restore the center to its former glory as the premier performing arts center in the nation and the world.”
