Federal Judge Blocks Trump Name from Kennedy Center, Board Votes to Close Amid Legal Standoff

A federal judge has dealt a second legal blow to efforts to attach Donald Trump's name to the Kennedy Center, blocking an attempt to inscribe the phrase 'renovated and restored by President Donald J. Trump' beneath the facility's official name and to rename its grounds 'The President Donald J. Trump Plaza.' Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that neither move could proceed without congressional approval, citing a 1983 law explicitly barring additional memorials or plaques in the public areas of the center.

The Kennedy Center's board — largely composed of Trump appointees — had passed an August 13 resolution framing the name additions as recognition of Trump's 'existential and unprecedented contributions' to the center's survival. The board had originally planned to complete the inscriptions by September 8, then pushed the deadline to October 8. Cooper dismissed the Justice Department's argument that blocking the moves would dry up donor funding, noting the DOJ provided no concrete evidence that donations were contingent on Trump's name appearing on the building.

Hours after the court ruling, the board voted again to close the center for renovations, citing financial pressures — a move that mirrors a March vote Cooper already blocked via a May preliminary injunction. Trump announced in a statement that the closure would be 'immediate,' but conditioned the actual renovation work on appellate courts reversing Cooper's name ruling. If the D.C. Circuit and potentially the Supreme Court do not restore the Trump name, he said, reconstruction will not proceed at all. The DOJ is expected to seek an expedited appeal.

Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat and ex officio board member, emerged as the central opposing figure. Her lawyers, Norm Eisen and Nathaniel Zelinsky, allege Trump verbally berated Beatty during Tuesday's board meeting for her resistance. Beatty argued that Trump's fixation on the naming issue — rather than the center's artistic mission — constitutes a breach of his fiduciary duty as a trustee. Trump has separately said he raised $17 million for the center to keep it financially stable during the standoff.

The case now heads to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, with the center's operational future effectively held hostage to the outcome. Cooper's rulings have twice reaffirmed that Congress dedicated the Kennedy Center exclusively to John F. Kennedy's memory under the center's founding legislation, leaving little legal room for the board's maneuvers short of an act of Congress.