The Republican president's name was taken off of the Washington building housing the performing arts venue last month on the orders of District Judge Christopher Cooper, who said that only Congress has the right to change its name.The Trump administration and Kennedy Center board filed an appeal with the US Court of Appeals for the District of Colombia seeking a stay of Cooper's ruling.A three-judge panel of the appeals court declined to do so, noting that the removal of Trump's name "has already occurred" and there has not been a showing of "irreparable harm."The appeals court panel also rejected a claim that the Kennedy Center will suffer financial harm if Trump's name is not reinstated, saying the assertion was not supported "with any specific facts or evidence."After returning to the White House last year, Trump named himself chairman of the Kennedy Center and stacked the governing board with loyalists.The board voted in December to rename the venue "The Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts" and Trump's name was added to the facade in large letters above that of Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963.
Workers erect scaffolding at the Kennedy Center, where a judge ordered the removal of President Donald Trump's name © Alex WROBLEWSKI / AFP
