Trump’s name was removed from the center’s facade and signage last month after a judge ordered its removal.
Published July 9, 2026
A U.S. appeals court has ruled that President Donald Trump’s name cannot be removed from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, but the organization is appealing an earlier ruling that the name change was illegal.
Trump’s name was removed from the center’s facade and signage last month after U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ordered the removal and blocked the president’s plan to close the center for renovations. An appeal against the ruling was rejected by a three-judge panel on Wednesday.
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This is another setback for the Kennedy Center’s board of directors, which Mr. Trump chairs, in a series that began earlier this year when it became the Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Performing Arts Center.
The high-profile increase, and the legal battle that followed, became emblematic of President Trump’s broader push to carve his legacy, and in this case his real name, on the nation’s capital in his final term.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected the Trump administration’s request to suspend a lower court order in a lawsuit filed by Kennedy Center director Democratic Representative Joyce Beatty.
“Today’s ruling reaffirms that the current administration’s efforts to rename the Kennedy Center are illegal,” Beatty said in a statement.
“His name no longer desecrates this sacred monument that belongs to the American people.”
The panel of judges wrote Wednesday that the trustees’ request “failed to show how they would be irreparably harmed” if Trump’s name remained on the building through the appeals process.
The commission had argued that the removal “could hinder” fundraising efforts, but the judges found that this claim was not supported by “specific facts or evidence.”
The Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment from The Associated Press.
When Trump first became president in 2025, he replaced the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees and was appointed chairman. His name was quickly added to the building, but a federal judge later ruled that the name change was illegal, setting off an ensuing legal battle.
