Kennedy Center Tells Court It Won't Restore Trump's Name to Building Before Sept. 8
The Kennedy Center has told a federal court it will not try to restore President Donald Trump's name to the building's facade before at least Sept. 8, buying time for legal arguments in a fight that has now stretched across multiple lawsuits and a court-ordered removal.
The venue's pledge came in a status report filed late Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, where opponents of the board's Trump-related changes are pressing for a faster ruling. The Kennedy Center said it would hold off until after Labor Day "at the earliest," according to ABC News. ABC News
The dispute traces back to a board resolution that would name the plaza in front of the building after Trump and add his name to the facade so it would read: "The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump." A further provision would add the words "Endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund" if that fund reached $100 million.
In May, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that letters spelling out Trump's name had been added to the building illegally and ordered them removed. The administration failed to persuade higher courts to overturn that decision. The Justice Department filed a certification in federal court one hour before a Saturday noon deadline confirming the name had come down, ABC News reported. Since then, a tarp has covered the spot where the letters once sat. ABC News
The same May decision also blocked a planned two-year closure for renovations, PBS NewsHour reported. The board had voted to shutter the building for two years, with the Kennedy Center Honors and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor relocated to off-site venues. The National Symphony Orchestra, which calls the building home, announced it would split its upcoming season across six venues in and around Washington. PBS NewsHour
Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat who sits on the Kennedy Center board as an ex officio member (a non-voting position held by virtue of her office), has pressed Judge Cooper for an earlier ruling. Her lawyers questioned the integrity of the board's vote, echoing concerns Cooper himself raised when he called a March vote to close the building "ill-informed and seemingly preordained." ABC News
Beatty filed her federal lawsuit in December 2025, challenging what she calls the unlawful renaming of the Kennedy Center by the president and the board. The case, Beatty v. Trump, is docketed in the District of Columbia federal court. CourtListener
The Kennedy Center has not committed to removing the tarp now covering the facade. The venue told the court the covering was put in place to facilitate the name removal and is part of a broader system needed for "water testing and structural repairs to the roof overhang."
The building's own renovation page describes the work as moving forward "with transparency and a commitment to restoring the Trump Kennedy Center to its rightful place as our nation's premier performing arts venue." Kennedy Center
For now, the facade stays covered. The legal arguments continue. And the name on the building remains what it has been since it opened: John F. Kennedy.
