A federal judge ruled President Donald Trump‘s name must be removed from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and that the theater should remain open despite a planned closure for repairs.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled in favor of Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH), who had filed a lawsuit “to stop the unlawful renaming of the John F. Kennedy Center” last year.
“Today’s ruling rightly affirms that this administration’s efforts to rename and close the Center have no basis in law,” Beatty told the Washington Examiner. “The Kennedy Center is an institution that belongs to the American people, not to Donald Trump. He has desecrated this sacred memorial for his own vanity. I am proud to have fought for the rule of law and to protect this sacred institution.”
The lawsuit argues Congress dedicated the Kennedy Center solely to former President John F. Kennedy and states that “because Congress named the center by statute, changing the Kennedy Center’s name requires an act of Congress.” The lawsuit alleges Trump’s December 2025 decision to rename the center after himself violated both constitutional order and the rule of law.
Beyond the naming, Cooper ruled that a vote to close the facility by the president’s handpicked board of trustees was improper and ill-formed. The ruling stated that Kennedy Center officials have two weeks to remove Trump’s name from the theater, with Cooper issuing another injunction intended to block the closure of the center and the planned revitalization efforts “until they have completed all required [planning and environmental] reviews, secured all necessary approvals and permits, and been expressly authorized by Congress to proceed.”
“Judge Cooper and the Radical Left would rather see it DIE than have President Trump transform it into something that everyone could be proud of,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “We are going to be working with Congress to transfer this failing Institution back to them so they can make a determination as to what to do with it.
“There has never been a President of the United States who has been treated so unfairly by the Courts as I but, that’s OK, I will continue to do, what is considered to be, a great job for the wonderful people of our Country,” the president continued.
AN INSIDE LOOK AT THE STATE OF THE KENNEDY CENTER BEFORE TWO-YEAR RENOVATION
Roma Daravi, the center’s vice president of public relations, said that even plaintiffs acknowledge the theater needs a planned $257 million renovation project, with the funds secured by Trump as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
The money addresses maintenance concerns and revitalization efforts, including repairing significant water damage to electrical rooms located beneath the center’s main entrances and renovating hundreds of compromised expansion joints to stop extensive water damage. Daravi said the center is “confident that on appeal the court will uphold the Board’s will to recognize President Trump’s historic contributions to our nation’s cultural center.”