President Donald Trump sharply criticized a federal judge who ordered the removal of the president’s name from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and blocked the theater’s planned closure for repairs.U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled in favor of Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH), who had filed a lawsuit “to stop the unlawful renaming of the John F. Kennedy Center” last year.“Judge Cooper and the Radical Left would rather see it DIE than have President Trump transform it into something that everyone could be proud of,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “We are going to be working with Congress to transfer this failing Institution back to them so they can make a determination as to what to do with it.
“There has never been a President of the United States who has been treated so unfairly by the Courts as I but, that’s OK, I will continue to do, what is considered to be, a great job for the wonderful people of our Country,” the president continued.
The lawsuit argues Congress dedicated the Kennedy Center solely to former President John F. Kennedy and states that “because Congress named the center by statute, changing the Kennedy Center’s name requires an act of Congress.” The lawsuit alleges Trump’s December 2025 decision to rename the center after himself violated both constitutional order and the rule of law.
