Workers assemble scaffolding at the Kennedy Center on Friday, June 12, 2026, in Washington, DC, USA.
Andrew Leidenbloomberg | Getty Images
The Kennedy Center’s board of directors voted Thursday to engrave President Donald Trump’s name on the building’s façade, starting a new legal battle over changes to the Washington, D.C., performing arts facility.
Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, said the new vote was a “clear effort” to circumvent a judge’s May order to remove Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center.
Beatty and her attorney released details of the vote on that and other items in a press release.
“I will continue to fight for this precious national monument,” said Beatty, who filed the lawsuit in Washington, D.C., federal court, which ordered the center to strip Trump’s name. Trump’s name was removed in June.
The Kennedy Center Board of Directors, of which Mr. Beatty serves as an ex-officio member, voted Thursday to rewrite the façade to read “John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump.”
The board, which includes many Trump supporters, also voted to rename the physical space outside the building “Donald J. Trump Presidential Plaza.”
The board then voted to close most of the facility for two years to allow for extensive renovations.
“A federal judge has already rejected the board’s illegal attempt to rename the Kennedy Center and told Donald Trump’s handpicked board that its previous closing vote was ill-informed and premeditated,” Norm Eisen, a lawyer with Democracy Defenders Action, and Nathaniel Zelinsky of the Washington Litigation Group, said in a statement.
“Today’s vote is no different and shows a blatant contempt for the court,” said two lawyers representing Beatty. “The court had already ruled against the board when it yielded to President Trump’s demands. Now the defendants will have to answer for their actions again in court.”
CNBC has reached out to the Kennedy Center for comment.
The center was renamed the Trump Kennedy Center in December, 10 months after President Trump removed several directors from the board and appointed himself as director.
On May 29, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that “Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it,” and ordered that Trump’s name be removed from the building within two weeks.
