Judge Christopher Cooper ruled on Tuesday that the Kennedy Center’s Board of Trustees cannot install memorials for President Donald J. Trump, or anyone else who is not former President John F. Kennedy, at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts without Congress’s approval.
This ruling followed a request from Joyce Beatty, an Ohio congresswoman and past member of the Board, who called on an emergency basis for the court to prohibit the Board from taking any steps on its most recent resolution.
On August 13, the Board passed a resolution to honor both President Trump’s present and future contributions in three different ways. The first is an inscription beneath the name of the Center that states “Renovated and restored by Donald J. Trump.” The second is an inscription to be added beneath the name once the Trump Kennedy Center Fund reaches $100 million, stating “Endowed by The Trump Kennedy Center Fund.” The third is naming the previously unnamed physical grounds the Center sits on as “President Donald J. Trump Plaza.” The Board had initially planned to enact this resolution by September 8, 2026, but later extended the deadline to October 8, 2026.
This resolution follows a court ruling four months earlier, on May 29, that had concluded the Kennedy Center had been named by Congress for John F. Kennedy alone, and that the federal law that created the Center prohibited any other name. That ruling had been used to strike down the Board’s earlier attempt to rename the institution in honor of President Trump. That order gave the board 14 days to strip Trump’s name from the building, website, and branding, and the center fully complied by removing the name from the building in mid-June.
The May ruling also restored voting rights to Representative Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat and ex officio trustee who had brought the underlying suit after the board stripped her vote. The board’s latest resolution, which Judge Cooper blocked on Tuesday, is its second attempt in a matter of months to secure a place for Trump’s name at the Center.
After Judge Cooper’s ruling, the Board voted to close the Center on Tuesday, citing financial issues and the dispute over putting President Trump’s name on the Center. The Board had recently been floating multiple options for getting Trump’s name on the Center over fears that Trump would cease financial contributions if he did not receive the recognition he sought. The Center needs these contributions for much-needed renovations.
