Kennedy Center lawyers told staff Thursday to immediately begin removing President Trump's name from the performing arts venue, setting a June 12 deadline to scrub signage, letterhead, and even furniture, all after a federal judge ruled the renaming unlawful.
The internal memo, first obtained by CBS News, directed employees to change email signatures and documents to reflect the facility's original name: "The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts" or simply "Kennedy Center." Interior and exterior signage bearing the Trump-affiliated name must come down by June 12, The Hill reported.
The directive followed a ruling last week by District Judge Christopher R. Cooper, who sided with Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat and ex officio member of the center's board. Beatty had challenged both the renaming and the board's plan to close the center for two years for a $257 million renovation.
Cooper's ruling struck directly at the Board of Trustees' authority to rename the institution. In his opinion, Cooper wrote:
"The Kennedy Center's organic statute makes crystal clear that the Center is to be named for President Kennedy, and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board's unilateral say-so."
That language leaves little ambiguity. The judge treated the statute as dispositive, the board simply lacked the legal power to rebrand the center, regardless of its reasons.
But Cooper's ruling was narrower on the closure question. He did not prohibit the planned two-year shutdown outright. Instead, he required the board to reconsider the decision, writing:
"The Court is not persuaded that the closure is categorically unwarranted or impermissible under the U.S. Code. The Court's preliminary injunction thus does not bar the Board from reconsidering the closure issue in a prudent manner."
That distinction matters. The $257 million renovation project is still scheduled to begin July 5. Whether the center stays open past that date remains unresolved. The center's general counsel told employees that officials are still "considering their options and will provide further guidance shortly" on the closure timeline.
Roma Daravi, vice president of public relations for the Kennedy Center, offered a statement that tried to thread the needle between compliance and defiance. She told The Hill:
"We are complying with the court's order while evaluating all legal options to preserve this revitalization and recognize President Trump's leadership."
That phrasing, "evaluating all legal options", signals the center has not given up. An appeal remains possible. But in the meantime, the Trump name comes off the building, the stationery, and the furniture.
As we previously reported, Judge Cooper is an Obama appointee whose wife has represented Joe Biden, a detail that raises fair questions about the appearance of impartiality in a case with obvious political stakes.
President Trump responded to the ruling by saying the judge should "be ashamed of himself." The frustration is understandable. The Board of Trustees approved the name change. The renovation was funded and scheduled. And a single district judge halted both moves, one outright, one conditionally, at the request of a Democratic member of Congress.
This is not the first time an Obama-era appointee has intervened in disputes touching the Trump administration's use of federal property and public space. Another Obama-appointed judge recently blocked the removal of an anti-Trump flag near the National Mall, a case that raised similar concerns about courts selectively protecting political expression hostile to the sitting president.
The broader pattern is hard to miss. Federal judges appointed by Democratic presidents have repeatedly stepped in to block Trump administration decisions on naming, staffing, and institutional control, often on procedural or statutory grounds that conveniently align with progressive political preferences.
Even with the name stripped, the Kennedy Center's future over the next two years remains in flux. The $257 million renovation was set to begin July 5 and would have shuttered the center for an extended period. Cooper's ruling did not kill the project, but it did force the board to go back and reconsider the closure, a process that could delay the timeline or reshape its scope.
Rep. Beatty challenged the closure alongside the renaming, arguing that the board overstepped. Cooper agreed on the name but gave the board room to revisit the shutdown on its own terms. Whether the board will push forward, scale back, or pause entirely is an open question that center officials have not yet answered publicly.
The Trump administration has moved aggressively to put the president's stamp on federal buildings and institutions. Trump's name was added to the exterior of the U.S. Institute of Peace Building in Washington. A large banner of Trump's face was hung outside Justice Department headquarters. The Justice Department itself has undergone significant personnel changes under the administration's leadership.
The June 12 deadline gives staff barely a week to complete the physical removal of Trump-affiliated branding from the Kennedy Center. That includes replacing signs inside and outside the building, updating documents, and stripping the name from furniture and other materials.
The center's statement about "evaluating all legal options" suggests an appeal is on the table. But any appeal would take time, and the court's preliminary injunction requires compliance now. The Trump name comes down while lawyers argue about whether it should have gone up in the first place.
The administration has faced resistance from courts and Congress on multiple fronts simultaneously. Senate resistance recently forced Trump to rule out a candidate for permanent intelligence director, and the White House has had to navigate pushback on several high-profile nominations.
Cooper's ruling rests on a straightforward statutory reading: the law says the center bears Kennedy's name, and the board cannot unilaterally change that. Whether that reading survives appeal is an open legal question. But for now, it is the law of the case.
The specific date Cooper issued the ruling, the full text of the internal memo, and the formal case caption remain unclear from available reporting. What is clear is the immediate practical effect: the Kennedy Center is reverting to its original name, the renovation timeline is uncertain, and the administration's effort to put Trump's name on one of Washington's most prominent cultural institutions has been stopped, at least for now.
When a single district judge can override a presidentially backed board decision on the strength of a statute and a Democratic congresswoman's lawsuit, the question isn't whether the law was followed. It's whether the courts have become the preferred venue for politicians who can't win the argument anywhere else.
