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Trump’s name was removed from center stage displays and billboards last month, after a judge ordered it removed.
Published on 9 Jul 2026
A US appeals court has ruled that President Donald Trump’s name should not be removed from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, as the organization appeals an earlier ruling that found the actors involved. Changing the name is not allowed.
Trump’s name was removed from the front of the center and the signs last month after US District Judge Christopher Cooper ordered their removal and blocked Trump’s plans to close the facility for renovations. An appeal against the ruling was rejected by three judges on Wednesday.
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It’s another takedown of the center’s board of trustees, of which Trump is chairman, in a saga that began earlier this year at the Kennedy Center: “Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”
The famous combination, and the legal battle that followed, became a sign of Trump’s big push to stamp his legacy — and, for now, his real name — on the nation’s capital at the end of his career.
A decision by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied the Trump administration’s request to suspend the lower court’s decision in the case of Democratic Representative Joyce Beatty, a member of the board of the Kennedy Center.
“Today’s ruling reaffirms that the administration’s efforts to rename the Kennedy Center were illegal,” Beatty said in a statement.
“His name no longer denigrates this sacred memorial, which belongs to the American people.”
Judges wrote Wednesday that the board of trustees’ petition “fails to show how it will be irreparably harmed” if Trump’s name remains on the building through an appeal.
The agency said the withdrawal “threatened” fundraising efforts, but the jury found that the claims were unsupported by “substantial facts or evidence”.
The Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to an emailed request from The Associated Press.
When Trump took office in 2025, he replaced the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees, who named him chairman. His name was quickly added to the building, but a federal judge later ruled that the name change was illegal, sparking a legal battle.
