[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-2292011631.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Kennedy Center board told a federal judge on Thursday that it will halt efforts to add President Trump\u2019s name to the building until at least October 8, delaying its plans by a month.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe announcement followed an emergency court hearing prompted by a Justice Department filing this week warning that the Kennedy Center could be demolished and potentially replaced with an outdoor amphitheater if the board is not allowed to close the building for two years for repairs. At the same time, the board is pushing to inscribe President Trump\u2019s name on the front of the building, with the line \u201cRestored and renovated by President Donald J. Trump\u201d beneath John F. Kennedy\u2019s name.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tPresident Trump\u2019s name was added to the front of the building in December 2025, but U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ordered it removed in May 2026, ruling that only Congress has the authority to change the center\u2019s name. The name was ultimately removed in June, but the board defied Cooper\u2019s ruling and announced it would rename the building. A tarp has blocked the fa\u00e7ade since.<\/p>\n
\n\tDuring Thursday\u2019s two-hour hearing, CNN<\/em> reports, Cooper repeatedly pressed Justice Department lawyers to explain why Trump\u2019s name needed to be added as soon as September 8. Cooper, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, called the date arbitrary and said he was prepared to issue a temporary order barring any renaming of the building while the legal battle continues.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThe Justice Department is arguing that Trump\u2019s name should be added to the building to acknowledge his \u201congoing\u201d contributions to its upkeep. In a Monday court filing, the DOJ said Trump secured $258 million in congressional funding for capital restoration in 2025 and recruited donors to finance an endowment. His lawyers argued that his \u201cefforts and prestige\u201d provide the \u201csole hope for the Center\u2019s financial survival and structural renewal,\u201d and that without his involvement, the Kennedy Center will \u201ccontinue to be in a financial and structural death spiral.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe latest legal challenge was brought by Democratic Representative Joyce Beatty, an ex officio member of the center\u2019s board who has led the months-long legal challenge against the DOJ. It argued that even if the court accepted Trump\u2019s argument, renaming the Kennedy Center would violate congressional authority and Cooper\u2019s prior order.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tDOJ lawyer Brantley Mayers reportedly framed the government\u2019s main argument around the need to add Trump\u2019s name to the center to ensure continued private donations, prompting a swift rebuttal from Cooper: \u201cWhat does that have to do with what Congress intended in the statutes?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tCooper ruled earlier this year that the board violated federal law by renaming the venue \u201cThe Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts,\u201d which Congress designated as a living memorial to Kennedy.<\/p>\n \n\tThe center has also proposed naming its plaza after Trump and adding another reference to him if its endowment reaches $100 million. The administration argues that naming the plaza for Trump would not violate the laws designating the center as a memorial to Kennedy.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tCooper reportedly pushed back on the argument on Thursday, noting that the DOJ\u2019s reasoning could allow the board to name the parking garage after former President Barack Obama or the campus after former President George W. Bush, effectively giving it broad authority to rename any part of the property.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThe whole thing would be for sale, basically \u2014 and that would be consistent with Congress\u2019 overall scheme?\u201d Cooper asked.<\/p>\n \n\tThe DOJ offered no rebuttal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/news\/kennedy-board-delays-adding-trump-name-to-the-center-1234796204\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-2292011631.jpg?w=1024″] The Kennedy Center board told a federal judge on Thursday that it will halt efforts to add President Trump\u2019s name to the building until at least October 8, delaying its plans by a month. The announcement followed an emergency court hearing prompted by a Justice Department filing this week warning that the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-2116778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2116778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2116778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2116778\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2116778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2116778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2116778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}