Kennedy Center Board Votes to Put Trump's Name Back on the Building, Testing Judge's Order

A person walks past scaffolding and a large protective tarp covering the facade of the John F.

Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, guarded by two security guards, in Washington, D.C., on August 13, 2026. —Brendan Smialowski—AFP/Getty Images The Kennedy Center board on Thursday voted to put President Donald Trump’s name back on the building’s facade, setting the stage to test a judge’s order from May that mandated its removal.

The board, made up of mostly Trump loyalists , voted 20-3 to change the name of the building to “The John F.

Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated by President Donald J.

Trump” while naming the center’s grounds “President Donald J.

Trump Plaza,” according to attendees of Thursday’s meeting who spoke to multiple media outlets.

The board also once again voted to close the performing arts center for up to two years for renovations.

Operations are set to shift to the REACH, another building on the campus, while they are completed.

“This morning’s decision to close the Center and the surprise agenda item to put Donald Trump’s name back on the building was more of the same,” Democratic Rep.

Joyce Beatty of Ohio, an ex-officio board member who sued Trump over his changes to the center, said in a statement to news outlets.

“This latest development is a transparent effort to circumvent the Court’s ruling, and flies in the face of the statutes that Congress passed.

I will continue to fight for this treasured national monument.” Thursday’s board votes are the latest moves in an ongoing battle over Trump’s efforts to seize control of the Kennedy Center, and sets up a test of a court ruling from U.S.

District Judge Christopher Cooper that rejected a prior attempt to change the center’s name and temporarily blocked plans to close it for renovations.

Cooper, who issued the ruling in Beatty’s lawsuit challenging the changes in May, found that renaming the venue the “Trump-Kennedy Center” violated federal law requiring the center to honor “President Kennedy and President Kennedy alone.” He also ruled that only Congress holds the power to change the center’s name.