WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge blocked the Kennedy Center on Tuesday from returning President Donald Trump ’s name to the iconic performing arts venue in a move meant to recognize his renovation efforts, saying it would violate an earlier ruling that his name was illegally added to the building.
Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that, “Simply put, Defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’s blessing.”
The Trump-aligned board at the Kennedy Center voted in August to inscribe the president’s name on the venue’s facade so it would read “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump.”
If the Trump Kennedy Center Fund reached $100 million, another inscription would be added reading: “Endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund.”
The plaza in front of the Kennedy Center would have also been renamed in Trump’s honor, as part of the board’s vote.
Cooper ruled in May that only Congress can approve changes to the Kennedy Center’s name. In an emergency hearing on the matter in August, the administration argued it was no longer attempting to rename the building and that the vote was simply a recognition of Trump’s effort to secure money for much needed renovations.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, whose wife sits on the Kennedy Center board, compared the move to the way hospitals and colleges recognize high dollar donors.
But a lawyer for U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat and ex officio member of the Kennedy Center board, argued the changes amounted to “deja vu” and violated Cooper’s earlier ruling.
“The law is extremely clear: The John F. Kennedy Center is named for President Kennedy — and no one else," Beatty said in a statement Tuesday. "But President Trump is holding the Kennedy Center hostage unless he can put his name on this sacred memorial. The Court just rejected this proposal for the second time. This unlawfulness is as breathtaking as it is wrong, and it needs to stop.”
Tuesday's ruling is the latest twist in a months-old naming saga that first saw the board installing Trump's name above Kennedy's. After Cooper shot down that move, an elevated tarp was erected which obscures Trump's name and most of Kennedy's.
A more recent board proposal floated multiple options for getting Trump's name on the grounds, including inscriptions like “Renovation and endowment overseen by President Donald J. Trump and the Trump Kennedy Center Fund.” Another option: “With Gratitude for Support from President Donald J. Trump and the Trump Kennedy Center Fund.”
The proposed board resolution was submitted to the court by Beatty as part of her effort to prevent the board from proceeding with the planned closure. It flatly states that “without such appropriate recognition” it's unlikely that Trump will financially support what the board says are desperately needed renovations.
Cooper, in his Tuesday ruling, tartly notes “the government plays word games.”
In a scheduling hearing Tuesday morning, prior to the release of his ruling, Cooper appealed to lawyers for both sides to find a mediated solution to the fate of the performing arts center. The center's board has claimed the building is in desperate physical shape and the institution is desperately close to insolvency.
“Is it possible to turn down the temperature a little bit?" Cooper asked. “I'm not ordering you to do it, but there is a larger public interest here.”
Visitors walk at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Sunday, Sept. 6, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
An sculpture of President John F. Kennedy is seen at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Sunday, Sept. 6, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
