Federal Judge Orders Trump’s Name Removed From the Kennedy Center

A federal judge in Washington, DC ordered the Kennedy Center to remove Donald Trump’s name from the institution, marking a clear legal rebuke to the board’s partisan rebranding. Judge Casey Cooper ruled that the law establishing the performing arts center “makes crystal clear that the Center is to be named for President [John F.] Kennedy, and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board’s unilateral say-so.” The decision gives the Kennedy Center 14 days to remove all signage and online mentions of Trump.

The ruling stems from a board vote last December. A group of members handpicked by Trump unanimously chose to rename the venue “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.” The move capped a broader takeover that included board firings, programming cancellations aimed at anything deemed “woke,” and a subsequent boycott by artists. The board also approved a two-year closure for renovations, a plan the court temporarily blocked. Judge Cooper described that closure decision as an “ill-informed and seemingly preordained decision.”

Kennedy Center spokesperson Roma Daravi said the board will appeal, arguing the court should uphold the board’s right to “recognize President Trump’s historic contributions to our nation’s cultural center.” Trump responded on Truth Social with a characteristic mix of defiance and retreat. He blamed “Radical Left Democrats” and said he would work with Congress to transfer the institution back to them. Unless he is free to do what he claims he does better than anyone, Trump wrote, he has “no interest in continuing what could only be a hopeless journey.”

The legal win arrives as a small but significant corrective in the fight over one of the country’s most visible arts venues. The Kennedy Center’s programming had already suffered under political pressure. For artists and audiences who saw the institution’s name as a symbol worth defending, the ruling offers a moment of institutional clarity, at least until the appeal begins.