Federal Court Strikes Down Trump Name at Kennedy Center, Appeals Court Rejects Administration’s Desperate Attempt to Stall
Workers began erasing President Donald Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center on Saturday after a federal judge’s order, while a D.C. Circuit panel swiftly dismissed the administration’s last-ditch effort to delay justice.
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Early Saturday, workers began the long-overdue removal of President Donald Trump’s name from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, following a decisive federal district court order demanding the reversal of this illegitimate rebranding by the end of Friday, June 12. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, standing up for the rule of law, found that the Trump name had been added illegally and also put a stop to the administration’s reckless plan to shut down the venue for two years under the guise of renovations.
Although scaffolding was set up on Friday, Washington’s thunderstorms delayed the process, which the Justice Department cynically used to raise so-called safety concerns. In a transparent attempt to undermine the court’s decision, the administration rushed to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, seeking an emergency stay of Judge Cooper’s injunction. Their argument—that restoring the Kennedy Center’s rightful name would confuse the public and threaten donor commitments—was swiftly dismissed by a three-judge panel, which included two Obama appointees and one Trump appointee. The panel issued a brief, unsigned order denying the stay and called for further briefs later in the month.
Rep. Joyce Beatty’s representatives, who courageously challenged the Trump name, denounced the administration’s emergency motion as “frivolous” and urged the appellate court to reject it. The Kennedy Center’s board, which had shamefully voted in December to rename the venue the Trump-Kennedy Center, was finally compelled by its general counsel to restore the center’s original identity.
Judge Cooper’s order also blocked the administration’s brazen attempt to close the center for extensive renovations, a move widely seen as a cover for further political meddling. The Kennedy Center’s website has already purged references to Trump, signaling a victory for those who oppose the normalization of corruption and authoritarianism in American cultural institutions.
