Court rejects Trump request to restore his name to Kennedy Center

WASHINGTON - A US appeals court on July 8 rejected President Donald Trump’s request to have his name restored to the facade of the Kennedy Center while he fights its removal.

The Republican president’s name was taken off of the Washington building housing the performing arts venue in June on the orders of District Judge Christopher Cooper, who said that only Congress has the right to change its name.

The Trump administration and Kennedy Center board filed an appeal with the US Court of Appeals for the District of Colombia seeking a stay of Cooper’s ruling.

A three-judge panel of the appeals court declined to do so, noting that the removal of Trump’s name “has already occurred” and there has not been a showing of “irreparable harm.”

The appeals court panel also rejected a claim that the Kennedy Center will suffer financial harm if Trump’s name is not reinstated, saying the assertion was not supported “with any specific facts or evidence.”

After returning to the White House in 2025, Trump named himself chairman of the Kennedy Center and stacked the governing board with loyalists.

The board voted in December to rename the venue “The Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts” and Trump’s name was added to the facade in large letters above that of Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963.

A number of artists cancelled scheduled performances following the change.

Trump’s name was removed in June but the area where it was taken down remains covered by a white tarpaulin and scaffolding.

Cooper has given the board of trustees until the end of July to explain why the tarpaulin remains in place.

Elsewhere in Washington, the now-defunct US Institute of Peace was renamed after Trump, and his face stares down from huge banners outside the Department of Justice and Department of Agriculture.

The Trump administration is also seeking to have his image printed on a US$250 bill to celebrate the country’s 250th anniversary of the declaration of independence from Britain. AFP