JUNE 13, 2026
Workers remove Trump's name from Kennedy Center facade following court-ordered deadline
Workers began removing President Donald Trump's name from the Kennedy Center's exterior facade in the early hours of Saturday, hours after a court-ordered Friday deadline to remove references to Trump from the building. Scaffolding was erected Friday, but thunderstorms caused delays, prompting the Kennedy Center to ask a judge for an extension until noon Saturday. By approximately 3:30 a.m., crews had packed up and left, though tarps covering the scaffolding made it impossible to immediately confirm whether all letters had been removed.
The removal followed a May 29 ruling by U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, who found that the Kennedy Center's governing statute makes clear the institution is named for President John F. Kennedy and that only Congress — not the Kennedy Center board — has authority to change that name. The judge ordered removal of Trump's name from physical signage, digital materials, and official branding within 14 days, and also blocked a planned two-year closure for major renovations that had been scheduled to begin in July.
Trump's name had been added to the building in December, shortly after a unanimous board vote. Trump took a central role at the Kennedy Center early in his second term, ousting previous leadership and installing a new board of trustees that named him chairman. The signage bearing his name went up within roughly a month of his return to office.
On Friday, the Kennedy Center board filed an emergency appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, seeking a stay to pause enforcement of Cooper's ruling while the broader appeal proceeded. A three-judge panel — composed of Judge Gregory Katsas, a Trump appointee, and Judges Patricia Millett and Robert Wilkins, both Obama appointees — denied the request for an immediate administrative stay. The court did not explain its reasoning but set a briefing schedule with arguments due through late June, meaning the underlying stay request remains pending. Earlier in the day, Judge Cooper had also denied the board's request to pause enforcement, finding the defendants had not demonstrated a likelihood of success on appeal or irreparable harm.