Scaffolding and a tarp cover the name building at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Monday, June 15, 2026 in Washington, DC.
Al Drago The Washington Post | Getty Images
An appeals court on Wednesday rejected President Donald Trump’s request to restore his name to the Kennedy Center as he challenged a lower court order that removed his name from the historic Washington art gallery in June.
The three-judge panel said Trump and the Kennedy Center’s board, in their motion to halt the lower court’s order, failed to show they would be “irreparably harmed” unless his name is restored.
“Since that removal has already occurred … a stay would not obviate those risks (even assuming they would qualify as irreversible),” a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said in its order.
The panel also said Trump and the board failed to provide “specific facts and evidence” that the agency’s fundraising efforts would be harmed if Trump’s name was not included.
The judges also rejected Trump’s and the board’s argument “that the new organization called the ‘Trump Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Foundation’ will no longer be able to raise money and must return all money ‘raised or donated’ to it if the word ‘Trump’ is not restored to the facade of the Kennedy Center.”
“Plaintiffs have never raised that factual contention in the district court, and have provided no explanation for their failure to do so,” the panel said. “Such a recent argument cannot demonstrate an abuse of discretion by the district court.”
The decision means that Trump’s name will remain absent from the Kennedy Center as his appeal to a District Court judge over Washington’s order to remove it continues. The same appeals court will hear Trump’s request for a May 29 order to remove his name from the agency.
CNBC requested comment from the Justice Department, representing Trump and the board on their complaint.
One of the judges on the appeals panel, Gregory Katsas, was appointed by Trump. The other two, Patricia Millett and Robert Wilkins, were nominated by former President Barack Obama.
The same panel on June 12 had rejected Trump’s request to stay in office, which would have blocked the removal of his name that night from the front of the Kennedy Center to comply with a May 29 order by District Court Judge Christopher Cooper.
“Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it,” Cooper said, noting that Congress did not authorize such a change.
“The Kennedy Center charter makes it clear that this center will be named after the President [John] Kennedy, and cannot bear any other official name or public memorial based on such a declaration by the Board,” Cooper wrote.
The board added Trump’s name to the agency in December, 10 months after Trump removed many trustees from the board and appointed himself as trustee. He is also the chairman of the board.
Attorney Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat, soon after sued Trump in an attempt to clear his name. Beatty is a former board member of the Kennedy Center.
