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May 29, 2026
By Brian Hews
President Donald Trump suffered a significant legal setback Friday after a federal judge ordered his name removed from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and blocked plans to close the iconic Washington, D.C. cultural venue for a massive renovation project.
In a sharply worded ruling, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper found that the Kennedy Center board exceeded its legal authority when it voted in March to rename the institution and add Trump’s name to the building. Cooper ruled that Congress created the Kennedy Center and only Congress has the power to change its name.
The judge ordered Trump’s name removed from the building façade and all official materials within two weeks.
“May the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts be renamed absent Congressional authorization? The answer, plain from the face of the statute, is no,” Cooper wrote in the ruling.
The decision also halted plans to close the Kennedy Center for approximately two years while renovations were completed. The board had approved the closure earlier this year after Trump-installed trustees took control of the institution.
Cooper criticized the board’s decision-making process, describing the vote as “ill-informed and seemingly preordained” and concluding trustees failed to properly evaluate their legal obligations before moving forward.
The ruling marks the latest courtroom defeat for Trump’s efforts to place his personal stamp on some of the nation’s most prominent public institutions. Since returning to office, Trump has pursued a series of high-profile projects aimed at reshaping Washington’s landscape, including major changes at the White House and proposals for new monuments and federal building redesigns.
Supporters of the Kennedy Center lawsuit argued that allowing a politically appointed board to rename the institution would undermine congressional authority and threaten the historic character of one of the nation’s premier performing arts centers.
The Kennedy Center’s leadership quickly signaled it would appeal the ruling. Officials argued the building remains in urgent need of repairs and pointed to more than $257 million approved by Congress for renovation work.
The Kennedy Center, which opened in 1971 as a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy, hosts thousands of performances annually and serves as one of the nation’s most recognizable cultural landmarks.
For now, however, Judge Cooper’s ruling means the Kennedy Center will remain the Kennedy Center—and not the Trump Kennedy Center.
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