Workers assemble scaffolding at the Kennedy Center on Friday, June 12, 2026, in Washington, DC, USA.
Andrew Leidenbloomberg | Getty Images
A federal judge on Friday rejected a last-minute bid to block an order directing President Donald Trump’s name to be removed from the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
The Trump administration had asked Judge Christopher Cooper to put the May 29 ruling in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., on hold pending a new appeal of the ruling.
Mr. Cooper’s veto came on the day of a deadline for an order to remove Mr. Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center, a performing arts landmark named after the late President John Kennedy.
“Defendants have not met their burden of establishing that the court’s permanent injunction on renaming the Kennedy Center is justified pending appeal of the underlying judgment to the D.C. Circuit,” Cooper wrote in his order.
“Most notably, for the detailed reasons set forth in the court’s decision, the defendants ‘have not demonstrated a strong likelihood of success on the merits,'” the judge wrote.
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