A federal judge has barred President Trump from adding his name to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and temporarily blocked plans to close the center for a two‑year renovation that was scheduled to begin in July.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper wrote that 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. Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it.”
As part of his ruling, Cooper ordered that all signage and online references to the “Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts,” the “Trump Kennedy Center,” or similar names must be removed within 14 days.
The decision also paused the center’s planned full closure for renovations. The judge described the renovation plans as “murky,” saying none of the board members had adequate information at their March 16 meeting to make a well‑considered decision to close the venue. Cooper’s opinion runs to 94 pages.
The renovation timeline had been set to begin in early July, after the nation’s 250th anniversary celebrations. President Trump and the current voting board members — all selected by the president, who also became chairman of the center last year — had advocated the closure. The Kennedy Center has already been winding down programming and has dismissed most of its programming staff in anticipation of the work.
A Kennedy Center spokesperson said the organization will appeal. Roma Daravi, the complex’s vice president of public relations, wrote that the center will review the decision but maintained that a major restoration is urgently needed. Daravi noted that “$257 million secured by President Trump and approved by Congress” is in place and said the center is committed to pursuing lawful avenues to restore what she called the “Trump Kennedy Center” as a national cultural landmark.
Judge Cooper also cited a February post by President Trump on Truth Social, saying there had not been the “one year review” with contractors and experts that the president claimed.
The lawsuit that produced Cooper’s ruling was filed in March by Rep. Joyce Beatty of Ohio, an ex‑officio member of the Kennedy Center board whose voting rights were removed last year. The ruling does not forever prevent a closure for renovation, but Cooper said any future decision to close the center should occur only after the board has “sufficient information to make a considered, independent decision,” balancing its duties to maintain and operate a premiere arts venue and to memorialize a fallen president.
NPR requested comment from the White House and did not receive an immediate reply.