President Donald Trump‘s name will not be returning to the Kennedy Center anytime soon.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Wednesday ruled against the arts institution’s motion to stay a lower court’s decision that Trump’s name be removed from the Kennedy Center pending its appeal.
On May 29, 2026, a federal district court judge ordered, among other things, the removal of Trump’s name from the façade of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and all other similar physical signage, as well as “the deletion of his name as part of the title of the Center on the official website” and the withdrawal of any trademark applications that included Trump’s name as part of the Kennedy Center’s appellation. The judge ruled in favor of Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), who in December sued Trump and the Kennedy Center’s board, arguing that the move to add Trump’s name to the center was illegal.
Workers removed “Donald J. Trump” from the Kennedy Center building on June 13 in compliance with the court order — but that section of the center remains obscured by large tarps for now.
The Kennedy Center appealed the decision, with Justice Department lawyers arguing on behalf of the center that, among other things, the removal of Trump’s name “threatens to impede the Center’s fundraising efforts and contribute to the financial decline of the Center.”
