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A panel of D.C. Circuit appeals court judges on Wednesday rejected a request by President Donald Trump and fellow members of the Kennedy Center’s board to stay a lower court’s order that Trump’s name be removed from the building.
The unsigned order from the appellate panel noted that the president’s name has already been taken off the facade of the building, and found that center officials “have failed to show how they will be irreparably injured absent a stay.”
The panel of judges, which includes Trump appointee Gregory Katsas, also shrugged off the board’s argument that taking Trump’s name off of the Kennedy Center could negatively affect its fundraising and “contribute to the financial decline of the Center.”
The judges said Trump and his fellow board members “failed to support this assertion with any specific facts or evidence.”
“Today’s ruling again affirms that this administration’s efforts to rename the Kennedy Center were unlawful,” Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) said in a statement. “Now it is time for the Trump administration to accept this.”
A tarp covers the facade of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, following a federal judge’s order to remove President Donald Trump’s name from the institution in Washington, D.C., June 28, 2026.
Nathan Howard/Reuters
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled in May that Trump’s name had to come down after the new Trump-controlled board voted in December to rename the building the “Trump-Kennedy Center.”
Cooper also voided a vote of the board to close the center for renovations, starting this month.
He has since directed the center’s leadership to provide him with an update on any programming and renovation plans that might come out of a board meeting expected in mid-July.
