An appeals court on Wednesday denied President Donald Trump's request to halt removal of his name from the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
Three judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit — Patricia Millett, Robert Wilkins and Gregory Katsas — wrote that Trump had failed to prove the Kennedy Center would be "irreparably injured" without his name attached and that "a stay would not avert those harms."
A three-judge panel on Wednesday also denied a request from the Kennedy Center's board to restore Trump's name to the institution while the board appeals an earlier ruling that had called the name change illegal and rescinded it. The board had renamed the building "The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts."
The Kennedy Center's facade has been covered by a tarp and scaffolding since June 13, and in a court filing last month the center's current executive director, Matt Floca, said Trump's name has been removed; Floca specializes in physical plant management and the Kennedy Center did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Trump's legal team had argued that removing his name would inflict irreparable harm by wasting time and money already spent, but the appeals judges wrote that the filings offered only "conclusory assertions" by the executive director in a "factually unsupported declaration."
Trump had claimed that without his name attached future fundraising would be threatened "and [will] contribute to the financial decline of the Center," and the appeals panel's decision means his name will remain off the Kennedy Center as his appeal of a May 29 order to remove it continues.
The panel also rejected an argument that a new entity named "The Trump Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Foundation" would be unable to fundraise and must return money, saying appellants "never raised that factual contention in district court" and adding, "Such a post hoc argument cannot demonstrate an abuse of discretion by the district court."
The same three-judge panel had on June 12 rejected a request for an administrative stay that would have blocked removal that night to comply with a May 29 order by District Court Judge Christopher R. Cooper, who wrote, "Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it," and that "The Kennedy Center's organic statute makes crystal clear that the Center is to be named for President [John] Kennedy, and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board's unilateral say-so."
The litigation was filed by Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, against President Trump and the Kennedy Center board, and Judge Cooper has ordered the center to provide him a status report on the center's operation and programming before the end of this month.
When Trump first took office in 2025, he replaced the Kennedy Center's board of trustees, named himself chairman and his name was quickly added to the building.
As of Wednesday, the Kennedy Center's calendar listed a small roster of programs including outdoor free movie screenings, workshops for children and five free live performances in July on its Millennium Stage; the center previously presented over 2,000 arts and education events each year, including free daily Millennium Stage performances.
The Kennedy Center board had added Trump's name to the center in December, ten months after he removed several trustees from the board and appointed himself as a trustee; he is also the board chair.
Rep. Joyce Beatty said, "Today's ruling again affirms that this administration's efforts to rename the Kennedy Center were unlawful. His name no longer desecrates this sacred memorial, which belongs to the American people. Now it is time for the Trump administration to accept this, comply with the law, and take the tarps down."