Judge hears arguments over whether Kennedy Center can restore Trump name inscriptions

The Kennedy Center Board, made up of President Trump and his allies, is again fighting to display Mr. Trump's name on the building's facade. CBS News Justice Department reporter Jake Rosen has the latest on Thursday's court hearing.

A court ordered Donald Trump's name removed from the performing arts centre in May, but his handpicked Kennedy Center board voted this month to restore it.

Venue's board of directors, stacked with supporters of the president, voted to add his name again despite past ruling.

The performing arts center's board now wants the president's name under the building's original namesake.

A federal judge heard arguments on Thursday in the latest challenge to the Trump-controlled Kennedy Center’s effort to install the president’s name on the complex, this time twice on its facade and once to designate the grounds for him. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, however, stopped the center’s lawyer from bringing up the “dilapidated” condition […]

After the court forced the removal of the president’s name from the building’s title, the center devised a plan to add an inscription honoring President Trump.

The Kennedy Center's board of trustees voted earlier this month to add inscriptions recognizing President Trump to the building's facade.

President Trump's battle to make the Kennedy Center his own returns to court on Thursday, where a judge will hear arguments in whether Trump's name may be inscribed on the building. Earlier this week, the Justice Department argued in court filings that the renowned performing arts facility will suffer financial ruin if his name isn't...

The Trump administration, in its ongoing effort to shatter previous world records for spitefulness, is threatening to demolish the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts if it is not allowed to put Donald Trump’s name on it. In a court filing Monday, prosecutors suggested that the proposed $250 million renovation project—which includes tacking the president’s name to the facade of the building—was necessary for the institution’s survival, The New York Times reported. “Without those efforts, the center will deteriorate further into an unsafe, decrepit structure that will be required to be taken down,” the filing said, “with a determination to follow on what to build on the site, such as a large outdoor amphitheater overlooking the Potomac River that has been proposed, by some, for many years.”In reality, Trump’s overhaul of the prestigious national theater has only hastened its demise. The Kennedy Center is on track to fall $100 million short of its profit goal, and the shortfall can be directly tied to Trump changing the institution’s name. It expects to miss its budget target by 70 percent and contributed revenue by 25 percent, a projected $23 million deficit.The Kennedy Center has become an outlet for the Trump administration’s shocking pettiness. The President Trump-appointed Kennedy Center board first tried to close the center in May, after multiple artists cancelled their performances in response to the proposed name change. Democratic Ohio Representative Joyce Beatty successfully challenged the decision in court. The renovations were blocked by U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, who argued that the board’s decision was “ill-informed and seemingly preordained.” Trump’s name was then scraped off the wall, and the building’s facade has remained concealed by a massive tarp. Earlier this month, the board voted again, this time deciding to close the center for two years so that it can renovate the building in Trump’s image. Now Beatty has asked a federal judge to once again keep Trump’s name off of another man’s memorial.

Kennedy Center attorneys defended the board’s decision earlier this month to restore Donald Trump’s name three times to the complex, arguing that it is essential to saving the institution. Earlier this month, the board, chaired by Trump and dominated by his allies, voted for a resolution to return Trump’s name to the front facade of […]

The Kennedy Center argued in a court filing its plan to inscribe President Donald Trump’s name on the venue is lawful, claiming Trump is the “sole hope for the Center’s financial survival.”

Rep. Joyce Beatty made an emergency request on Thursday that a federal court block the Kennedy Center from returning President Donald Trump’s name to the building.The Trump-aligned board at the Kennedy Center voted earlier this month to inscribe the president’s name on the venue’s facade so it would read “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump.” If the Trump Kennedy Center Fund reached $100 million, another inscription would be added reading “Endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund.”The plaza in front of the Kennedy Center would also be renamed to recognize Trump.The Kennedy Center has said it wouldn’t attempt to engrave Trump’s name on the building before Sept. 8 to allow for legal arguments to unfold.Beatty, an Ohio Democrat and ex officio member of the Kennedy Center, has led the effort to prevent Trump from memorializing himself there. In asking for the court’s intervention, her lawyers, Norm Eisen and Nathaniel Zelinsky, wrote that the board’s actions amounted to “clear violations” of an earlier court order.A representative for the Kennedy Center didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The resolution approved by Trump’s allies on the board said the Kennedy Center “would be in financial ruin without President Trump’s unique stature as both an unparalleled fundraiser and world-class developer.”Congress named the performing arts center as a living memorial to Kennedy in 1964, the year after he was assassinated. The law explicitly prohibits the board of trustees from making the center into a memorial to anyone else, and from putting another person’s name on the building’s exterior.U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper ruled in May that the Kennedy Center illegally added Trump’s name to the building, ordering it removed. The institution’s leaders complied in June but left a tarp and scaffolding in place where Trump’s name once stood.Lawyers for the Kennedy Center wouldn’t commit this week to taking down the scaffolding, saying it’s needed as part of a broader system for “water testing and structural repairs to the roof overhang.” —Steven Sloan, Associated Press

Board Won't Add Trump's Name To Kennedy Center Before Sept. 8, Filing Says Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times, The Kennedy Center’s board told federal court that it will not try to put President Donald Trump’s name back on the building’s facade before at least Sept. 8, giving both sides time to discuss a new resolution opponents say flouts a prior court order. In a joint status report filed late on Aug. 18, attorneys for the center and the U.S. Department of Justice said the board would delay enforcing the so-called recognition resolution the board approved on Aug. 13. The measure stated that the board would add an inscription reading, “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump,” and rename the plaza in front of the building after the president. Another resolution approved the same day provided that the center be closed for two years for renovations. This means that some of the institution’s high-profile programming, such as the Kennedy Center Honors and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, would have to be presented off-site. The National Symphony Orchestra said days ago that it would divide its upcoming season among six venues in and around the nation’s capital. Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), an ex officio member of the center’s board of trustees, filed the lawsuit challenging the center’s first renaming—as “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts”—in December 2025. Attorneys for Beatty said in the new filing that the latest name change resolution was a “breathtaking act of defiance.” The statute that created the center “provides no lawful basis” to ignore the federal district court’s prior ruling and “impose Donald Trump’s name on a memorial dedicated by the Congress exclusively to a different President,” they said. “Defendants are, once again, trying to memorialize Donald Trump—something the statute expressly prohibits,” her lawyers added. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ordered Trump’s name taken off the center’s marble facade on May 29, setting a removal deadline of June 12. Construction crews used scaffolding to begin physically prying the words “Donald Trump” off the facade in the early morning hours of June 13. In the status report, the center said the scaffolding and a protective cover known as a tarp are needed for water testing and structural repairs to the roof overhang and its underside, and that the scaffolding was also used to remove the president’s name. Beatty’s attorneys disputed that explanation, arguing the structure is in place to keep the Kennedy name obscured and prevent a return to the pre-litigation status quo. They asked Cooper to rule before Sept. 8 on the lawfulness of the recognition resolution, arguing that the board seemed ready to act as soon as the center’s voluntary pause of free public tours ended. The lawmaker’s attorneys also asked the court to direct the center to show cause why the covering should not be removed within 30 days, and to order the parties to begin discovery, an evidence-gathering process, into the shutdown decision. Tyler Durden Thu, 08/20/2026 - 13:00

The Kennedy Center has agreed to hold off on placing President Trump’s name onto the performing arts building amid an ongoing legal battle over the venue. The center’s Trump-aligned board voted last week to add the president’s name to its building again, months after a federal judge ordered it removed. The center said in a...

Opponents argue the venue seems 'intent on defying' a court order to remove the president's name from the building.

A new filing in the Kennedy Center lawsuit offers new details on the vote to close the center and add President Donald Trump’s name back onto the front of the building.

The request from a Democratic lawmaker follows a decision by the Trump-allied board to add “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump” to the building.

When the board of the Kennedy Center met last week to decide on the future of the complex, they took up a resolution to restore Donald Trump’s name to the front facade of the complex. The vote by the Trump-controlled board was not just one designation for the president, but three. According to a copy […]

Must they keep chipping away at their dignity?

The Kennedy Center Board of Trustees voted to name the institution's grounds "President Donald J. Trump Plaza" as a sweeping renovation begins.

A May court ruling ordered the center to remove the president’s name from the building

The board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has voted to inscribe President Donald Trump’s name on the building, and approved his plan to shutter most of the complex for renovations, according to NPR. The move is the latest attempt by the Trump-allied board to carry out the president’s wishes, despite […]

The Kennedy Center board members, most of whom were appointed by President Trump, voted on Thursday to add an inscription to the building under the Kennedy Center sign that says the building was "restored and renovated by President Donald J. Trump." The new effort to add the president's name could face legal pushback. Nancy Cordes explains.

US President Donald Trump-appointed board at the Kennedy Center on Thursday voted in favour of adding his name to the site again, despite a district court ruling against the move. The name change, proposed by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, would also rename the area around the center.

The Kennedy Center's board of trustees, which includes multiple allies of President Trump, voted Thursday to put Mr. Trump's name back on the Washington, D.C., building months after a judge ordered it removed. CBS News' Olivia Rinaldi has more.

President Trump's name may once again appear on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. It came down this summer after a federal judge said only Congress could order a name change, but the president's allies apparently have a new plan. Ed O'Keefe reports.

The John F Kennedy Center in Washington wants to acknowledge Donald Trump for his "existential and unprecedented contributions" to its survival.

Vote to add ‘Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump’ sets up potential clash with federal judge who had ordered the name removed

The board on Thursday also voted to proceed with a two-year closure for proposed renovations, which was earlier blocked by a federal judge.

The move sets the stage for a test of a judge's order that previously mandated Trump's name be removed.

The Kennedy Center board has proposed a new way to put President Donald Trump’s name back on the building.

In a twist, the board's latest plan calls for additional wording: "Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump.”

The board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing ‌Arts voted on Thursday to add an inscription bearing President Donald Trump's name to the building's exterior,…

The Trump-appointed Kennedy Center board first tried to close the Center in May, but that decision was blocked by U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, who argued that the board’s decision “ill-informed and seemingly preordained.” On Thursday, the board voted again, this time deciding to close the center for two years so that they can renovate the building in President Trump’s image.Judge Cooper still has to review the board’s plan for the center’s closure, which they have until next week to provide.The board also voted to put Trump’s name back on the center, circumventing the law stating “no additional memorials or plaques in the nature of memorials shall be designated or installed in the public areas” by putting “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump,” somewhere on the building. “This morning’s decision to close the Center and the surprise agenda item to put Donald Trump’s name back on the building was more of the same,” said Democratic Ohio Representative Joyce Beatty, who successfully sued the Center in May. “This latest development is a transparent effort to circumvent the court’s ruling, and flies in the face of the statutes that Congress passed. I will continue to fight for this treasured national monument.”This is just one of the many useless aesthetic overhauls that President Trump has taken on during his vastly unpopular second tenure—from the Reflecting Pool, to the East Wing of the White House, to the Ballroom. His takeover of the Kennedy Center, attacking it for being too “woke” did real damage to the institution, as ticket sales plummeted and the Center’s cultural legitimacy suffered. “My word: just think about how low his self esteem is that he needs this so badly? Most human beings would have felt the shame of all this,” journalist Chuck Todd wrote on X. “I know this isn’t a new take. But it doesn’t make it any less sad or pathetic.”

President Donald Trump's name was removed from the Washington, D.C., performing arts center in June as the result of a lawsuit by an Ohio congresswoman.

Trustees condemn Kennedy Center’s move to re-add Trump’s name and shut down for extensive renovations.

The move appears designed to circumvent a judge's ruling that the US president's name should be removed, potentially setting the stage for a new legal fight over the Kennedy Center's name and future.

US President Donald Trump has sought to burnish his legacy by getting his name and image placed on everything, from limited edition passports to a Florida airport. The post Kennedy Center board votes to restore Trump name – Reports appeared first on Vanguard News.

The venue's board of trustees, which is stacked with Trump allies, reportedly voted to approve a workaround by adding the inscription "Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump" to the building.

The venue's board of trustees, which is stacked with Trump allies, reportedly voted to approve a workaround by adding the inscription "Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump" to the building.

The Kennedy Center board voted Thursday to add President Trump’s name to the performing arts building months after a judge blocked an effort to rename the center after him, according to multiple reports. The Trump-aligned board approved an inscription underneath the Kennedy Center’s name, reading: “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump.” The new...

The Kennedy Center's board of trustees voted to add President Trump's name to the facade of the performing arts center, more than two months after a judge ordered its removal, according to a Democrat who sits on the center's board.

A vote has attached President Trump's name to the Kennedy Center -- again.

The Kennedy Centre board voted on Thursday to add US President Donald Trump’s name to the facade of the performing arts venue and move forward with a two-year closure, according to congresswoman Joyce Beatty, a trustee through her position in Congress, and her lawyers. A representative for the Kennedy Centre did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The moves set up a test of US District Judge Christopher Cooper, who ruled in May that letters affixed to the building and spelling out...

The Kennedy Center board has voted to restore Donald Trump's name to the building, despite a previous court ruling that barred the renaming.

The center has until next week to present plan to judge who had blocked earlier rehab and name changeUS politics live – latest updatesThe board of the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington is said to have voted once again to move forward with Donald Trump’s controversial plan to temporarily shutter the building for substantial renovations, as well as to inscribe the US president’s name on the facade of its building, despite a federal order for his name to be removed from the signage.The board – mostly handpicked, staunch allies of the president – voted “to close the Kennedy Center’s main building, while keeping a newer addition to the campus, known as the Reach, open for limited programming and to operate as an active memorial to John F Kennedy”, according to the New York Times, which was first to report the results. Continue reading...

The Kennedy Center’s board reportedly plans to add an inscription to the venue that says, “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump,” despite a judge’s ruling that forced it to remove Trump’s name.