Federal Appeals Court Orders Donald Trump’s Name Off Kennedy Center During Ongoing Litigation

A federal appeals court ruled that President Donald Trump’s name must stay off the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts while litigation continues, after U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ordered the removal from the building and marketing materials.

“Appeals court denies Trump's request to halt removal of his name from Kennedy Center Trump's name has already been taken off the facade of the building”

ABC News

On July 8, 2026, three judges from the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said Trump could not prove that the Kennedy Center would be "irreparably injured" without his name attached, according to NPR.

ABC News

The Washington Post reported that a three-judge panel denied a motion to stay from a Justice Department lawyer who argued that removing Trump’s name would hurt the center’s fundraising efforts and further its financial decline.

The decision came after the center’s board, led by Trump, voted in December to add his name to the center, and after Cooper wrote that federal law is "crystal clear" that the center is named for Kennedy and that only Congress can change it.

The appeals court said the board’s fundraising argument lacked "specific facts or evidence," and ABC News reported that the panel also found center officials "have failed to show how they will be irreparably injured absent a stay."

Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, told NPR that "Today's ruling again affirms that this administration's efforts to rename the Kennedy Center were unlawful," and she said Trump’s name "no longer desecrates this sacred memorial, which belongs to the American people."

Al Jazeera

The Washington Post said the judges cast doubt on the center’s argument about a "new entity" called the Trump Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Foundation, writing that "Appellants never raised that factual contention in district court."

While the letters were removed, the Guardian reported that scaffolding and tarp erected ahead of the works "have remained in place for weeks, obscuring the facade," as Cooper demanded an explanation for the covering.

The ruling means Trump’s name will remain off the Kennedy Center as his appeal of a federal District Court judge in Washington’s order to remove it plays out, with CNBC saying the same appeals court will hear his appeal of a May 29 order.

“A federal appeals court on Wednesday rejected President Donald Trump's bid to restore his name to the Kennedy Center as he challenges a lower court's order that stripped his name from the Washington performing arts landmark in June”

CNBC

USA Today reported that U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper set a hearing July 28 for Kennedy Center officials to explain their plans for remaining open during a $258 million renovation project and why the tarp remains out front.

The Violin Channel said the name was eventually removed, but the facade remains covered by extensive scaffolding and tarpaulins, obscuring the place where the name once stood, even after the court’s decision.

In parallel, the BBC described the center’s legal fight as beginning after the board voted in December to rename the facility, and it said the appeals court denied Trump’s request to pause the order while the case proceeds.