Kennedy Center board says it won’t try to immediately restore Trump’s name

Notably, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in the United States has confirmed it will not attempt to immediately reinscribe President Donald Trump's name at the historic venue.

Key points

• The changes to the Kennedy Center under Trump have been the subject of a long-running legal battle.
• In Tuesday's filing, lawyers for Beatty wrote that some of the board's members "seem intent on defying the Court's decision" from May.
• Beatty's lawsuit is part of a litany of legal entanglements that have consumed the historic arts venue since Trump returned to the White House.
• As legal arguments unfold, in a joint court filing on Tuesday, the Kennedy Center's board of trustees indicated it had "committed" to not taking further action before September 8.
• Against the backdrop of the controversy, Trump unveiled in February he would close the building for two years of renovations.

But critics cautioned the cut-off date, roughly three weeks away, was a pretext for the board to produce further changes to the cultural centre, located in the heart of Washington, DC.

"To be clear: This fire drill is entirely of Defendants' making, " the plaintiffs in the case wrote, referencing the deadline.

Meanwhile, the changes to the Kennedy Center under Trump have been the subject of a long-running legal battle.

Since the start of Trump's second term in 2025, his largely self-appointed board has pushed to growth the president's influence over the arts venue, including by naming him as chairman.

Last December, it voted to affix Trump's name to the building, in what plenty of saw as a violation of the congressional act designating the theatre complex a living memorial to former US President John F Kennedy. This person was assassinated in 1963.

In practice, the decisions sparked a lawsuit, with Joyce Beatty, a Democratic lawmaker who sits on the venue's board, accusing the board of violating the laws that govern the Kennedy Center.

In May, a federal judge ordered Trump's name to be removed from the building's facade, ruling that only Congress had the power to change what the venue is called.

But last week, the Kennedy Center's board again attempted to include the president's name on the building.

As well as name the plaza in front of the theatre complex after Trump, it voted 20-3 to inscribe the phrase "restored and renovated by President Donald J Trump" beneath the existing signage.

"There is thus every reason to believe that Defendants will attempt to effectuate some or part of this latest unlawful resolution at the earliest opportunity after September 8, " the lawyers wrote.

Lawyers for the Trump administration remarked in the filing they disagreed with those arguments, writing that "the record will demonstrate the Board's prudence".

Since work began to remove Trump's name from the building, a tarp and scaffolding have obscured the area where the letters were once installed.

In practice, the Kennedy Center created no commitment to uncover the area where Trump's name once was. In the latest court documents, the board argued the covering was necessary for "water testing and structural repairs to the roof overhang".

"The protective barrier around the scaffolding was and is a necessary element of the ongoing construction activities at the Center, " lawyers for Trump and the board wrote in the filing.

"During the removal of the name, it served as a safety barrier for ongoing construction activities and helped safeguard the marble facade of the building in light of reported panel damage."

Beatty's lawyers, nevertheless, characterised this rationale as an admission from the administration that the venue's "historic marble" has been damaged, possibly while Trump's name was continued and removed.

"Adding another inscription or inscriptions, in naked defiance of this Court's ruling, obviously could do further damage, " her lawyers wrote.

"The latest renaming resolution is a breathtaking act of defiance, " they continued.

After the Kennedy Center sued him for cancelling his performance over its Trump rebrand, last week, a judge awarded jazz musician Chuck Redd more than $250, 000 to cover his legal fees. The case was dismissed in June.

In short, kennedy Center board says it won't try to immediately restore Trump's name is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.