General Discussion

A US Court of Appeals has rejected Donald Trump‘s request to restore his name to the Kennedy Center. The president challenged a previous ruling that ordered the removal of his name from the institution in June.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied Donald Trump’s bid to restore his name to the Kennedy Center.

In a Wednesday order, the judges wrote that the Trump administration and the Kennedy Center’s board have “failed to show how they will be irreparably injured” if the president’s name is not restored.

“Since that removal has already occurred … a stay would not avert those harms (even assuming they would qualify as irreparable),” the panel added. The judges also said that Trump and the board failed to provide any “specific facts and evidence” to support that the removal of his name would negatively affect the center’s fundraising efforts.

“Appellants never raised that factual contention in district court, and they have given no explanation for failing to do so,” the panel added. “Such a post hoc argument cannot demonstrate an abuse of discretion by the district court.”

Officials from the Kennedy Center first announced its new moniker, the “Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts”, on January 16, 2026. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper had ordered the removal of the president’s name from the landmark on May 29, 2026.

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