President Donald Trump‘s makeover of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., has hit some roadblocks as a federal judge ordered Friday (May 29) that the president could not add his name to the historic building’s title.
U.S. District Judge Casey Cooper stated in a new 94-page opinion that the Kennedy Center board — of which Trump is the chairman, as voted on in February last year by the members he appointed during his overhaul of the institution — violated the law by moving to change its name to “The Donald Trump and The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.” The judge also ordered the removal of any reference to the sitting POTUS’ name displayed on the building’s signage or website within the next two weeks.
“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 in his opinion. “Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it.”
Additionally, the federal official permanently blocked the center from planned renovations that would close the Kennedy Center for two years, writing that the board had “neglected to consider the full range of its statutory obligations” to continue operating as a performing arts venue in memorial to President Kennedy, as well as the “potential adverse consequences of closure on programming and memorial functions.”
In a statement shared with Billboard, however, Roma Daravi, the vp of Kennedy Center public relations, expressed an intent to push back on the order. “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.”
“We will review the decision carefully though the reality remains — the Center requires an urgent and significant restoration,” Daravi continued of the halt on renovations. “With $257 million secured by President Trump and approved by Congress, the resources are in place and we remain committed to pursuing every lawful avenue to ensure the Trump Kennedy Center is restored as a national cultural landmark for all Americans to enjoy.”
Billboard has reached out to the White House for comment.
Trump’s relationship to the facility has drastically switched from his first turn in office, during which he became the first president to choose not to attend the Kennedy Center Honors, aside from rare instances where urgent political matters required attention instead. Since winning reelection in 2024, the billionaire politician has embedded himself in the institution, removing 18 members previously selected by Joe Biden from the center’s board and replacing them with his own appointees.
Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center also came with a personal promise to remove “Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth” from programming, the president wrote on Truth Social last year. This past December, the board moved to rename the building in Trump’s honor in a vote his administration described as “unanimous,” though that has been contested by some people who attended the virtual meeting at which the decision was made.
One of those people was Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, who claimed that she was repeatedly muted during the call with the board. She was also who brought the suit against Trump over the renaming, resulting in Judge Cooper’s order on Friday to block it.
In a statement shared with Billboard, 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,” she added. “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.”
