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A federal judge has ruled that President Donald Trump‘s name must come off the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts — and members of the Kennedy family are celebrating the decision.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper handed down the 94-page ruling in May 2026, finding that only Congress has the power to rename the federally chartered Washington, D.C., institution. The decision also temporarily blocked the venue’s planned two-year closure for alleged renovations, throwing the building’s future into uncertainty.
Trump appointed himself the president of the Kennedy Center upon his second term as president, which began in January 2025. He also replaced the entire board of trustees, who subsequently voted to rename the theater “The Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”
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Judge’s Ruling Explained
A judge ruled in May 2026 that Trump and the Kennedy Center’s Board of Trustees acted unlawfully when they added the president’s name onto the venue, which Congress previously dedicated to President John F. Kennedy in 1964 — a year after his assassination.
“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 decision. “Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it.”
The judge also halted Trump’s planned two-year shutdown of the venue, which was originally scheduled to begin in July 2026 to coincide with the country’s 250th anniversary. Cooper found that “none of the board members had sufficient information in advance of the March 16 meeting to make a well-considered decision to close the center,” according to The New York Times. He left the door open for the board to revisit the closure if it independently weighs “its multiple obligations to the Center in a prudent fashion.”
Kennedy Center Staff Told to Scrub Trump References
In a June 4, 2026, memo obtained by Politico, Kennedy Center employees were told to strip Trump’s name from internal and public-facing materials.
“You must immediately change email signatures, letterhead, and other documents to reflect the name as ‘The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,’ or ‘Kennedy Center,’” the memo read. “Other changes, such as to templates and forms, signage, brochures, and website pages, must be completed no later than Friday, June 12, 2026.”
Trump’s name had already been quietly removed from the center’s official website, voicemail and YouTube channel in the days leading up to the memo, according to the Associated Press.
A Kennedy Center spokesperson said in a statement, “We are complying with the court’s order while evaluating all legal options to preserve this revitalization and recognize President Trump’s leadership.”
Construction workers were spotted removing Trump’s name from the building facade on June 13, 2026.
Maria Shriver and Jack Schlossberg Celebrate the Decision
JFK’s niece Shriver called the ruling a “birthday present” for her late uncle, who would have turned 109 the day Cooper issued his decision.
“An appropriate birthday present on my uncle’s birthday today. A federal judge ruled that President Trump and the Kennedy Center Board acted unlawfully in renaming the Kennedy Center after him,” Shriver wrote via Threads in May 2026. “The judge held that only Congress can change the Center’s name and blocked the planned two-year closure for now. I know they’ll probably appeal and the story isn’t over, but for today, let’s celebrate a great birthday gift.”
JFK’s grandson, Schlossberg, took an even sharper tone, writing via X: “Trump can take the Kennedy Center for himself. He can change the name, shut the doors, and demolish the building. He can try to kill JFK. But JFK is kept alive by us now rising up to remove Donald Trump, bring him to justice, and restore the freedoms generations fought for.”
Donald Trump Responds to Judge’s Ruling
The president slammed Cooper’s decision in a lengthy Truth Social post, accusing the judge — a President Barack Obama appointee — of bias and vowing to push Congress to take the building off his hands entirely.
“Shockingly, a Judge appointed by Barack Hussein Obama, Christopher Cooper, ruled that The Kennedy Center, which was going to close in early July for large-scale renovations and construction due to years of neglect, decay, and poor maintenance, and which was to be transformed by the Trump Administration into the Finest Facility of its kind, anywhere in the World, is not allowed to close for these renovations,” Trump wrote, claiming that he instructed the Department of Commerce to “make all necessary arrangements” to transfer control of the Kennedy Center back to Congress.
Kennedy Center Board of Trustees Files Appeal
The Board of Trustees voted to seek a stay of Cooper’s order in June 2026, arguing the name change reversal would be “both wasteful for the Center and confusing for the public.”
Roma Daravi, the Trump Kennedy Center vice president of public relations, said in a statement, “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.”
This story was compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists.
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