Federal judge blocks Kennedy Center renovation, orders Trump name removed

A federal judge Friday blocked President Trump's planned two-year renovation of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and ordered his name removed from the building within two weeks, handing the White House a stinging legal defeat.

The ruling could reshape how future administrations assert influence over federally chartered cultural institutions, with implications for arts communities and performing arts venues across the country, including in Southern California.

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that the Kennedy Center board's March 16 vote to close the venue for a renovation set to begin in July was "ill-informed and seemingly preordained," according to ABC7 Los Angeles. Cooper also found that the board "overstepped its statutory bounds" by adding Trump's name to the building and held that only Congress — not a presidentially appointed board — has authority to rename the landmark, which opened in 1971 as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Trump, who became chairman of the Kennedy Center board after returning to office in January 2025 with a handpicked slate of trustees, fired back Saturday on Truth Social. He branded the judge "an anti Trump Hater," claimed the center was "rusted, rotted, and rat and bug infested" and predicted the venue would be "soon be closed, probably never to open again." He added that it was "impossible for me to be treated fairly."

The president sought to distance himself from the renaming, insisting it was the board that placed his name on the building. "They thought it would be good for this dying Institution," Trump wrote.

The ruling came in part on a lawsuit brought by Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat, which the judge favored. Norm Eisen, a former White House ethics lawyer involved in a separate legal challenge to the renovation, praised the decision. "I have already heard from artists and from audience members alike who are excited about the Kennedy Center returning to non-partisan normality," Eisen told The Associated Press.

Trump compared the Kennedy Center setback to the Supreme Court's February rejection of his sweeping tariffs, citing both as evidence of what he called judicial bias. Despite his public anger, the president signaled he may step back from the project and relinquish oversight of the center to Congress.

The Kennedy Center, the nation's premier performing arts venue since its 1971 opening, remains closed to its scheduled July renovation start pending further legal proceedings.