Former staff members of the U.S. Institute of Peace asked a federal court on Thursday to prevent the Trump administration from carving President Trump’s name into the facade of the headquarters in downtown Washington.
In a filing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, lawyers for the institute’s ousted leadership said that engraving Mr. Trump’s name on the building would cause “irreparable harm” because the act would further damage the organization’s independent mission. They argue that mission is separate from the federal government.
Mr. Trump’s name was already adhered on the Institute of Peace in December in large, silver letters alongside the existing engraving of the institute’s name. A White House spokeswoman said at the time that the organization, which has essentially been defunct since March 2025, had been renamed the “Donald J. Trump United States Institute of Peace.”
The White House and the State Department, which manages the building, did not immediately respond to questions about whether there were imminent plans to engrave Mr. Trump’s name there.
Thursday’s motion is the latest development in legal wrangling over the Trump administration’s takeover of the peace-building nonprofit, which included firing staff members and seizing the building with the help of law enforcement authorities.
While legal proceedings continue, the administration maintains control of the institute and its elegant headquarters, which sit along the National Mall. The institute was created by Congress and received federal funding for its programs, though the building was funded through a mix of federal money and private donations.
The lawyers did not say in their filing why they anticipated that the name would be carved into the building. But in the filing they said that they asked the administration to commit to not carving the name while the case is pending, which the government’s lawyers did not do. The government’s lawyers also did not confirm “that no such action would be taken,” the filing said.
Mr. Trump in his second term has sought to name several Washington institutions for himself. Recently, the president blasted a judge’s decision to remove his name from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts after Mr. Trump handpicked board members who voted to rename it the “Trump-Kennedy Center.”
It is not clear what federal authority would organize an engraving of the Institute of Peace headquarters and pay for it. Though a federal judge ruled last year that the takeover had been a “gross usurpation of power,” a three-judge panel stayed that decision on appeal and returned control of the institute to the administration.
Darren Beattie, who was installed as the head of the institute by the Trump administration, ceded use of the 150,000 square-foot headquarters in November to the State Department, which has used event spaces in the building for Mr. Trump to host world leaders, throw a lavish private dinner party in the president’s honor and serve as an elegant backdrop for speeches.
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