Federal Court Orders Removal of Trump Name from Kennedy Center, Appeals Court Denies Stay

Workers started removing President Donald Trump’s name from the façade of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts early Saturday, following a federal district court order that the naming be undone by the end of Friday, June 12. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper had ruled that the name had been added illegally and also barred a proposed two-year closure of the venue for renovations.

Scaffolding was erected on Friday, but thunderstorms in Washington delayed the work, prompting the Justice Department to cite safety concerns. The administration filed an emergency motion with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals seeking a stay of Cooper’s injunction, arguing that changing the name again could confuse the public and affect donor commitments. In a brief, unsigned order, a three-judge panel—two Obama appointees and one Trump appointee—rejected the stay and directed the parties to submit briefs later in the month.

Representatives of Rep. Joyce Beatty, who sued over the name change, called the emergency motion “frivolous” and urged the appellate court to deny it. The Kennedy Center’s board, which voted in December to rename the venue the Trump-Kennedy Center, had been directed by its general counsel to revert the name to its original form.

The district court’s order also blocked the administration’s plan to close the center for extensive renovations. The Kennedy Center’s website has already removed references to the Trump name from its online materials.