WASHINGTON, May 29, 2026 — A federal judge issued a sweeping ruling Friday ordering President Donald Trump’s name removed from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts within two weeks, declaring that only Congress — not a presidential board of trustees — has the authority to rename the iconic Washington institution.
“Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it,” U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper wrote in his 94-page decision, issued on President John F. Kennedy’s birthday. “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 ordered Trump’s name removed from the building’s facade, all interior signage, and the center’s official website within two weeks — and temporarily blocked the administration’s plan to close the center for a two-year renovation beginning July 4, 2026. The ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, an ex officio Kennedy Center trustee.
The Renaming and What the Law Says
Trump’s board of trustees voted on December 18 and 19, 2025 to rename the venue the “Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts,” and new signage bearing both names went up on the building’s exterior the following day. Ex officio board members including Beatty, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, and Senators Mark Warner and Sheldon Whitehouse immediately declared the renaming illegal, saying “Federal law established the Center as a memorial to President Kennedy and prohibits changing its name without Congressional action.”
The legal basis for Cooper’s ruling is 20 U.S. Code § 76h — the National Cultural Center Act of 1964 — which established the institution as “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts” and grants its board of trustees specific enumerated powers that do not include renaming the building. Cooper found the board “overstepped its statutory bounds by unilaterally renaming the Kennedy Center.”
Cooper also ruled that Beatty — who was stripped of her voting rights as an ex officio trustee by the board earlier this year — must have those rights restored. “The Center’s organic statute makes no distinction between the powers of general and ex officio trustees,” Cooper wrote. “Nothing in the statute permits the Board to discriminate categorically between the two as to fundamental trustee rights.”
The Lawsuit
Beatty filed her civil lawsuit in December 2025, challenging the renaming, the planned closure, and the stripping of her trustee voting rights. The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia argued: “Congress intended the Center to be a living memorial to President Kennedy — and a crown jewel of the arts for all Americans, irrespective of party. Unless and until this Court intervenes, Defendants will continue to defy Congress and thwart the law for improper ends.”
In a statement following the ruling, Beatty said: “Today’s ruling rightly affirms that this administration’s efforts to rename and close the Center have no basis in law. 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 Planned Closure — Also Blocked
Trump had announced in February 2026 that the Kennedy Center would close beginning July 4, 2026 for a “complete rebuilding.” In response, Beatty said: “Once again, Donald Trump has acted with total disregard for Congress. The Kennedy Center is congressionally funded, and Congress should have been consulted on any decision to shut down its operations or undertake major renovations, especially for a two-year period.”
Cooper’s Friday ruling temporarily blocked that closure as well, finding the board had not demonstrated legal authority to unilaterally close a congressionally chartered institution. He also ordered that Beatty be provided with full information about any renovation plans and restored to full participation in board meetings — consistent with his earlier March 14, 2026 order requiring the administration to allow Beatty to participate in board proceedings.
Trump’s Response
Following the ruling, Trump announced his administration would move to put Congress in control of the center — effectively conceding the judge’s central finding that only Congress has the authority to rename and restructure the institution. The White House did not immediately issue a formal statement on the ruling.
The Kennedy Center’s History
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts opened on September 8, 1971 — nearly eight years after President Kennedy’s assassination on November 22, 1963. Congress established it in 1964 as a living memorial to the 35th president, replacing plans for a National Cultural Center that had been in development since 1958. The center hosts more than 2,000 performances annually. Trump serves as chair of its board of trustees under the statute — a position all sitting presidents hold by law. Cooper’s ruling is a preliminary injunction and is expected to be appealed by the Trump administration.
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