Kennedy Center Closes as Trump, Judge Clash Over Name

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., closed its doors on Tuesday after its Trump-appointed board of trustees voted to shutter the landmark venue, hours after a federal judge blocked the board’s latest effort to inscribe President Donald Trump’s name on the building.

The vote marks a dramatic escalation in a months-long legal and political standoff over the naming of one of the United States’ premier cultural institutions, pitting the White House against a federal court and a dissident board member who has sued to block the changes.

A Judge Blocks the Name — Again

The immediate trigger for the closure was a ruling by U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper, who on Tuesday rejected a board resolution that would have added the phrase “restored and renovated by President Donald J. Trump” beneath the center’s official name, The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.

“Simply put, defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’s blessing,” Cooper wrote, according to Al Jazeera. “The board resolution bucks a federal court order and a statute Congress enacted.”

Cooper had already ruled in May 2026 that adding Trump’s name was unlawful because only Congress has the authority to rename the institution. The lettering came down in June, though tarpaulins and scaffolding still conceal the area where it hung.

The judge concluded that the board’s proposed inscription — along with a plan to designate the grounds as “The President Donald J. Trump Plaza” — violated his earlier permanent injunction. “Common sense dictates that the words ‘renovated and restored by President Donald J. Trump’ establish a memorial,” he wrote, as reported by Deadline.

The Board Votes to Close

Hours after the ruling, the board — composed largely of Trump allies — voted almost unanimously to close the building, citing safety and financial concerns. Trump said the closure would take effect “immediately.”

“The Board of The Kennedy Center today agreed, almost unanimously, to close the Building for Safety reasons, and so that it can begin the process of Reconstruction,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, according to CNBC.

But the president attached a condition: the planned renovation would not proceed unless a higher court allowed his name back on the building.

“If the ruling is a negative one, which it should not be, and is not overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Reconstruction and the Renovation of The Kennedy Center will not take place,” he wrote.

The center’s leadership has argued that keeping the Trump name on the facade was essential to its financial survival, warning of a “dire financial crisis” and the risk of “certain fiscal collapse.” The board also cited a recent incident in which a portion of the center’s ceiling collapsed after a rainstorm, rendering the main building unsafe for occupancy.

Trump said $17 million he raised has been deposited into the Kennedy Center account “to keep it afloat,” and the Department of Justice filed an appeal of Cooper’s ruling with the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit within hours.

A Struggle Over Law and Legacy

At the heart of the dispute is a 1983 amendment to the law that created the Kennedy Center as a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy following his 1963 assassination. That amendment guarantees that “no additional memorials or plaques in the nature of memorials shall be designated or installed in the public areas” of the center.

Cooper, in a separate order cited by The Guardian, said the Justice Department had offered “no proof that current or future donations hinge on President Trump’s being on the building” and “no competent proof that removing the Trump name would prevent the Center from fulfilling its artistic mission.”

The judge added that the evidence pointed the other way: the renaming coincided with declines in revenue and contributions, as artists canceled performances, the Washington National Opera ended its 50-year residency, and ticket sales and viewership of the Kennedy Center Honors broadcast dropped.

Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), an ex officio board member who brought the legal challenge, said the law was unambiguous. “The law is extremely clear: The John F. Kennedy Center is named for President Kennedy — and no one else,” she said, according to Al Jazeera. “This unlawfulness is as breathtaking as it is wrong, and it needs to stop.”

Beatty added that “Donald Trump only cares about the Kennedy Center for his vanity,” calling the effort a “breach of his fiduciary duty as a trustee.”

Her attorneys, Norm Eisen and Nathaniel Zelinsky of Democracy Defenders Action, called the ruling a victory. “Two times the court has told Trump the same thing: You are not above the law,” they said. “Legal sanity has once again prevailed over Trump’s vanity.”

A Tumultuous Tenure

Trump took control of the Kennedy Center in February 2025, installing himself as chairman, firing the board and its longtime president, Deborah Rutter, and ousting former chairman and major benefactor David Rubenstein. His name was first added to the building in December 2025.

According to The Guardian, current leadership has blamed the center’s financial troubles on mismanagement by Rutter’s team, alleging a “falsified” budget with $26 million in “phantom revenue” — a claim Rutter and Rubenstein have denied, noting that the center’s finances were independently audited.

Beatty disputed the characterization of the shutdown as a necessary step, saying the center had long planned phased renovations that would allow performances to continue. “But donors, patrons, and artists all fled after the unlawful attempt to rename this sacred memorial after Donald Trump,” she said.

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Virginia), another ex officio board member, said the closure reflected misplaced priorities. “It is a shame the president would rather close the Center because it cannot have his name on the building, rather than work with Congress to renovate the building,” he told Al Jazeera.

What’s Next

The case now moves to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, and potentially to the Supreme Court. Until then, the Kennedy Center’s main building will remain dark, with any programming limited to The Reach — a smaller 2019 extension that cannot accommodate Broadway-scale productions or the National Symphony Orchestra.

Democracy Defenders Action contends the center is barred from closing until Cooper lifts the preliminary injunction he issued in May. Whether the judge agrees that the board’s latest vote meets the conditions for a necessary closure remains an open question.

Trump, for his part, hinted at further action. “I also have the strength and power of the Presidency, which will be needed to do what must be done, and give it a strong shot at Greatness again!” he wrote. “We have already wasted more than 6 months ‘playing around’ in Court. Time is our Enemy!”

As Cooper put it in his ruling: “Yet the drama at the Kennedy Center continues.”