Scaffolding and tarp covers the building name at the the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, on Monday, June 15, 2026 in Washington, DC.
Al Drago | The Washington Post | Getty Images
A federal appeals court on Wednesday rejected President Donald Trump’s bid to restore his name to the Kennedy Center as he challenges a lower court’s order that stripped his name from the Washington performing arts landmark in June.
A three-judge panel said Trump and the Kennedy Center’s board, in their motion to stay the lower court’s order, failed to show they would be “irreparably injured” without his name being restored.
“Since that removal has already occurred … a stay would not avert those harms (even assuming they would qualify as irreparable),” the panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said in its order.
The panel also said Trump and the board failed to provide any “specific facts and evidence” that the center’s fundraising efforts would be harmed if Trump’s name is not included.
The judges also rejected the argument by Trump and the board “that a new entity named ‘The Trump Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Foundation’ will no longer be able to fundraise and must return all money ‘raised or committed’ to it if the name ‘Trump’ is not returned to the Kennedy Center’s façade.”
“Appellants never raised that factual contention in district court, and they have given no explanation for failing to do so,” the panel said. “Such a post hoc argument cannot demonstrate an abuse of discretion by the district court.”
The decision means that Trump’s name will remain off the Kennedy Center as his appeal of a federal District Court judge in Washington’s order to remove it plays out. The same appeals court will hear Trump’s appeal of a May 29 order to remove his name from the center.
CNBC has requested comment from the Justice Department, which represents Trump and the board in their appeal.
One of the judges on the appeals panel, Gregory Katsas, was appointed by Trump. The other two, Patricia Millett and Robert Wilkins, were appointed by former President Barack Obama.
The same panel on June 12 had rejected Trump’s request for an administrative stay, which would have blocked the removal of his name that night from the facade of the Kennedy Center to comply with the May 29 order by District Court Judge Christopher Cooper.
“Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it,” Cooper had said in that order, noting that Congress had not authorized such a change.
“The Kennedy Center’s organic statute makes crystal clear that the Center is to be named for President [John] Kennedy, and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board’s unilateral say-so,” Cooper wrote.
The board had added Trump’s name to the center in December, 10 months after Trump removed several trustees from the board and appointed himself as a trustee. He is also the board chair.
Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat, soon after sued Trump in an effort to remove his name. Beatty is an ex officio member of the Kennedy Center board.
