By
Updated on: June 12, 2026 / 2:25 PM EDT
/ CBS News
Add CBS News on Google
Washington — A federal judge on Friday denied a last-minute attempt by the Trump administration to stop the removal of President Trump's name from the Kennedy Center, following an earlier order that set a deadline of Friday for the name to come down.U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper determined last month that the president's name was illegally added to The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and ordered that it be removed. The Trump administration said it would appeal that ruling on Thursday. On Friday, Cooper denied a request for a stay of his permanent injunction pending appeal, meaning his order won't be paused and the deadline stands. Cooper laid out his reasoning for denying the request for a stay in a brief order."Most notably, for the detailed reasons laid out in the Court's [initial] ruling, Defendants have not 'made a strong showing that [they] are likely to succeed on the merits' of any appeal," the judge wrote. "Nor have Defendants demonstrated that they 'will be irreparably injured absent a stay.'" Workers were seen erecting scaffolding outside the Kennedy Center under its name on Friday.
