Jim Campbell
Jim Campbell
1:00pm - 2:00pm
Business Talk with Jim Campbell

National News

Appeals court denies Trump's request to halt removal of his name from Kennedy Center

Construction crews build scaffolding outside The Kennedy Center on June 13, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

(WASHINGTON) -- A panel of D.C. Circuit appeals court judges on Wednesday rejected a request by President Donald Trump and fellow members of the Kennedy Center's board to stay a lower court's order that Trump's name be removed from the building.

The unsigned order from the appellate panel noted that the president's name has already been taken off the facade of the building, and found that center officials "have failed to show how they will be irreparably injured absent a stay."

The panel of judges, which includes Trump appointee Gregory Katsas, also shrugged off the board's argument that taking Trump's name off of the Kennedy Center could negatively affect its fundraising and "contribute to the financial decline of the Center."

The judges said Trump and his fellow board members "failed to support this assertion with any specific facts or evidence."

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled in May that Trump's name had to come down after the new Trump-controlled board voted in December to rename the building the "Trump-Kennedy Center."

Cooper also voided a vote of the board to close the center for renovations, starting this month.

He has since directed the center's leadership to provide him with an update on any programming and renovation plans that might come out of a board meeting expected in mid-July.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.


Weather

 

Closings & Delays

RI EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

COVID-19

image of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Rhode Island Features

On Facebook