The Kennedy Center is moving to comply with a federal court order to strip President Donald Trump’s name from the iconic Washington arts venue, according to a memo obtained by CBS News.
The center’s general counsel sent the memo to staff Thursday, instructing them to “immediately change email signatures, letterhead, and other documents” to reflect the original name — the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Interior and exterior signage must be switched back by June 12.
The order follows a ruling last week by U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, who found the Trump-appointed board had overstepped its authority when it voted in December to rename the venue “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.” Cooper ruled that “Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it.”
The memo also signals that the center has yet to decide whether it will remain open past July 5, when a $257 million, two-year renovation was slated to begin — a closure Cooper’s injunction also blocked. Center officials are still “considering their options,” the memo says.
The renaming was announced in December by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who wrote on X that the board voted unanimously to honor Trump “because of the unbelievable work President Trump has done over the last year in saving the building.” Trump said at the time he was “honored” and “surprised.”
But the administration signaled resistance after the ruling. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum refused to commit to complying when asked on CNN’s State of the Union, saying he wasn’t sure whether the order would be appealed and calling it “controversy on both sides.”
In court, the administration had argued Trump’s name was “merely a secondary name” — not a true renaming — a claim Cooper flatly rejected.
Trump then posted over the weekend that he would walk away from the center, calling it “broken, unsafe and busted.”
The lawsuit was filed by Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH), an ex officio Kennedy Center trustee who alleged that adding Trump’s name was a “flagrant violation” of the Constitution. The Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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