Appeals court refuses to pause Kennedy Center name removal

A federal appeals court refused Friday night to stop the removal of President Donald Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center, leaving in place a judge’s order that the lettering be stripped from the facade of Washington’s premier performing arts venue.

The decision came after U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper rejected a last-minute request from the Trump administration and the Kennedy Center’s Trump-aligned board to pause his ruling. Workers erected scaffolding outside the building Friday afternoon, but thunderstorms swept through Washington and delayed the work. By shortly after midnight, Trump’s name was still on the facade.

Justice Department lawyers told the court the removal was “ongoing” and had been delayed by storms that created safety concerns for workers. Kennedy Center Executive Director Matthew Floca said in a court declaration that the work would conclude “in the early hours of the morning” Saturday. The government asked for until noon Saturday to file papers certifying compliance with Cooper’s order.

Cooper ruled last month that Trump’s name had been illegally added to The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and ordered it removed by Friday, June 12. “Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name,” Cooper wrote in his 94-page opinion in May, “and only Congress can change it.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied the administration’s emergency request in a one-page order Friday evening. CBS News reported that the unsigned order was issued by a panel of two Obama-appointed judges and one Trump appointee, with no noted dissents. The appeals court directed the parties to file briefs later this month.

In its emergency motion, the government argued that it “does not make sense to alter the Center’s name and signage now, only to potentially revert the name again after what should be a successful appeal.” The administration also said repeated name changes could confuse the public and asserted that some donors had contributed because Trump’s name was on the institution. “Without the name, ‘Trump’ on the Building, our fundraising will not only come to a halt, but any and all monies raised or committed would be obligated to be returned, refunded, or terminated,” the government wrote.

Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat and ex-officio Kennedy Center board member, sued over the name change and the planned closure of the center for renovations. Her lawyers urged the appeals court to reject the emergency motion, calling it “a frivolous stay request, filed at the eleventh hour, in a transparent effort to jam the Court and game the judicial system.” They accused the administration of “gamesmanship” and “running out the clock.”

Outside the Kennedy Center, dozens of people gathered Friday as workers prepared the scaffolding. Some took photos and chanted, “Take it down!” Beatty was seen on the plaza. After heavy rain and thunder moved through the area, workers paused, and many spectators took shelter.

The Kennedy Center has already begun undoing the rebranding in other places. A June 4 memo from its Office of General Counsel instructed staff to use “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts” or “Kennedy Center” on email signatures, letterhead and other documents. The center’s website has dropped Trump’s name, and an email offering members ticket packages for the June 28 Mark Twain Award for American Humor ceremony also used the Kennedy Center name without Trump.

The center’s board, whose members were appointed by Trump, voted unanimously in December to rename the institution “The Donald J Trump and the John F Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.” Trump had earlier removed the center’s previous leadership and installed allies; the new board named him chairman. The Kennedy Center was established by Congress as a memorial to President John F. Kennedy.

Cooper’s ruling also temporarily blocked the administration and trustees from closing the center for a major renovation project. The center’s leadership had approved a $257 million “revitalization project” that would have closed the building for two years. In its appeal, the Kennedy Center argued the work was urgently needed, citing “potentially life threatening structural damage like beams and parking garage ceilings that are rusted, and in serious danger of falling onto people below.”