Kennedy Center: U.S. Court of Appeals Shuts Down Trump's Latest Move
· BCPosted in: streaming, TV, YouTube | Tagged: Kennedy Center, trump
Kennedy Center: U.S. Court of Appeals Shuts Down Trump's Latest Move
On Wednesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit shut down Trump's latest effort to keep his name attached to the Kennedy Center.
Published Wed, 08 Jul 2026 14:37:10 -0500
by Ray Flook
|
Comments
Article Summary
- D.C. Circuit rejects Trump’s bid to keep his name on the Kennedy Center while his appeal moves forward.
- Judge Christopher Cooper ruled only Congress can rename the Kennedy Center under the 1964 federal law.
- Cooper also blocked Trump’s push to shutter the Kennedy Center for two years with a preliminary injunction.
- Appeals judges said Trump’s team offered no specific evidence that removing his name would harm fundraising.
Despite its best efforts, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper handed the Trump Administration two major legal losses back in May regarding its attempts to rename the Kennedy Center to "The Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts" and its efforts to shutter it for two years. First up, Judge Cooper ordered Kennedy Center officials to remove Trump's name from the building within two weeks, citing the 1964 federal law that prohibits anyone but Congress from changing the center's name. "Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it," Cooper wrote in his finding. In addition, Cooper granted a request for a preliminary injunction to temporarily block Trump from taking further action toward closing the center.
After a whole lot of desperation on his legal team's part, Trump's name was finally removed (though a tarp was put up to block folks from being able to see that his name was being removed, so we have to assume it was), but that didn't stop Trump's legal efforts. Well, those efforts ran into the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Wednesday, and it did not go well. The three-judge appellate court panel denied Trump's efforts to stay a lower court's decision until his appeal efforts were complete, "because [appellants] have failed to show how they will be irreparably injured absent a stay." As for Trump's claim that removing his name would negatively impact the Kennedy Center's fundraising and financial health, the panel noted that Trump's legal team "failed to support this assertion with any specific facts or evidence. They offer only the conclusory assertions of the Kennedy Center's Executive Director that were made in a factually unsupported declaration." It remains to be seen when – or if – the tarp that was placed in front of the Kennedy Center will be removed at some point.
Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!