In December 2025, the Kennedy Center’s Trump-appointed board of trustees voted to rename the center. Signage soon followed, reading “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”
Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty, an ex officio member of the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees, filed a lawsuit saying that the name change was unlawful. Judge Christopher R. Cooper ruled in May 2026 that “Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it,” and ordered the removal of Trump’s name from the building, website, and other materials.
Since Trump’s name was removed from the building, the facade…
