US judge rules to remove Trump's name from Kennedy Center On May 30th, a judge of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia in the United States ruled to remove President Trump's name from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and suspend the center's two-year closure plan for renovation. In December 2025, the White House announced that the Kennedy Center would be renamed the "Trump Kennedy Center". This renaming move was strongly opposed by the Democratic Party and the Kennedy family in the United States. Joyce Beatty, a Democratic federal congressman from Ohio and a member of the Kennedy Center board of directors, has filed a lawsuit in court demanding the revocation of the renaming decision and the removal of Trump's name. In February of this year, Trump announced on social media that the "Trump Kennedy Center" would suspend its performance operations for approximately two years starting in July for renovation and construction. Judge Christopher Cooper of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia ruled on the 29th that the name of the Kennedy Center cannot be changed without congressional legislation. Cooper wrote in the 94 page ruling: "The organizational charter of the Kennedy Center clearly states that the center should be named after President Kennedy, and the board of directors may not unilaterally change its official name or the name of the public memorial. Congress has given the Kennedy Center this name, and only Congress can change it... The court considers that the board's unilateral renaming of the Kennedy Center to President Trump exceeds its statutory authority. Xinhua News Agency