A federal judge has temporarily blocked plans to rename the Kennedy Center after President Donald Trump and halted a proposed two-year closure of the iconic performing arts institution for renovations.
In a 94-page ruling issued Friday on the birthday of former President John F. Kennedy, US District Judge Christopher Cooper said the Kennedy Center’s board lacked the authority to formally change the institution’s name.
“The Kennedy Center’s organic statute makes crystal clear that the Center is to be named for President Kennedy, and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board’s unilateral say-so,” Cooper wrote. “Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it.”
The judge ordered the administration to remove Trump’s name from the building and the center’s website within 14 days.
The ruling stemmed from a lawsuit filed by Rep. Joyce Beatty of Ohio, an ex officio member of the Kennedy Center board, who challenged both the renaming and the board’s decision to close the facility for two years.
Cooper rejected arguments by the administration that the facility had not technically been renamed, noting that the building had been publicly labeled “The Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”
“The ‘Trump Kennedy Center’ label adds an entirely new name to the Center’s formal title and relegates President Kennedy’s name to second place. If that is not a renaming, what is?” the judge wrote.
Trump criticized the ruling in a lengthy post on Truth Social, saying he would work with Congress to transfer responsibility for the institution back to lawmakers.
“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,” Trump wrote.
The White House did not immediately indicate whether it would appeal the decision.
The judge also issued a preliminary injunction blocking the center’s planned closure, finding that the board’s decision was based on an “ill-informed and seemingly preordained decision.”
According to the ruling, the board relied on incomplete information and failed to fully consider its legal responsibilities and the potential effects of a prolonged shutdown on programming and memorial functions.
The closure had been approved during a March board meeting following Trump’s call to temporarily shut down the center after July 4 to facilitate major renovations.
Cooper stressed that necessary repair work could still proceed and said the board would remain free to reconsider a closure if it followed proper procedures and independently evaluated its obligations.
“The preliminary injunction will not prevent the Center from moving forward with the capital repair work it has planned,” Cooper wrote.
Kennedy Center spokesperson Roma Daravi said the institution would review the ruling and expressed confidence that the decision would be overturned on appeal.
“We are 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,” Daravi said.
Beatty welcomed the ruling, saying it affirmed that efforts to rename and close the Kennedy Center lacked legal basis.
“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,” Beatty said.
The dispute marks the latest controversy surrounding efforts to expand Trump’s name and branding across federal institutions during his second term.
