Judge bars Kennedy Center board from adding Trump name to building and grounds

A U.S. District Court judge in Washington, D.C., issued a new order on Tuesday prohibiting the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts board from placing President Donald Trump’s name on the center’s main building or renaming its grounds. The ruling follows a May injunction that required the removal of Trump’s name after the board added it to the center’s official title and façade in December.

Judge Christopher Cooper wrote that any memorials or name changes for Trump would violate both the earlier court order and a statute enacted by Congress, which limits the Kennedy Center to memorials for President John F. Kennedy alone. He noted that the board’s resolution “bucks a federal court order and a statute Congress enacted.”

The board, chaired by President Trump, had planned to add the inscription “renovated and restored by President Donald J. Trump” beneath the center’s name and to designate the grounds as “The President Donald J. Trump Plaza.” The deadline for these changes was extended to Oct. 8.

Rep. Joyce Beatty, a Democratic member of the board, asked the judge to block the resolution, describing it as an effort to honor Trump’s “future existential and unprecedented contributions.” The Department of Justice, defending the board, argued that blocking the name could jeopardize donor support, but the judge found no evidence that donations depended on the Trump inscription.

Cooper reiterated that the 1983 congressional amendment to the Kennedy Center’s founding law expressly prohibits additional memorials or plaques in public areas, confirming that the center may bear only President John F. Kennedy’s name.