A new time-lapse video captured construction crews assembling scaffolding this week at Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center, as preparations get underway for a contentious move that directly challenges a recent federal court order: reinserting former President Donald Trump’s name onto the iconic performing arts venue’s facade. The unexpected reversal comes just two months after a federal judge mandated the permanent removal of Trump’s branding from the national cultural landmark, reigniting a bitter legal and political battle over the future of the institution.
According to Democratic Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, a sitting member of the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees, the panel voted along party lines Thursday to approve adding the phrase “Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump” to the center’s official public title. The current board is dominated by appointees loyal to Trump, who installed a slate of new trustees and appointed himself chairman of the institution in February 2025, shortly after he began his second presidential term.
Beatty condemned the board’s decision in sharp remarks following the vote, calling the move a blatant attempt to bypass the court’s binding order. “This latest development is a transparent effort to circumvent the court’s ruling, and flies in the face of the statutes that Congress passed,” she said. “I will continue to fight for this treasured national monument, which was created to honor the legacy of President John F. Kennedy, not advance the personal political brand of a sitting president.”
The BBC reached out to Kennedy Center leadership for additional comment on the vote and upcoming work, but had not received a response as of press time. White House spokesperson Liz Huston defended the board’s action in an official statement Thursday, framing the addition of Trump’s name as a recognition of the administration’s investment in the historic venue. “Under President Trump’s bold leadership, the Kennedy Center is on its way to becoming the finest cultural institution anywhere in the world,” Huston said.
Alongside voting to reintroduce Trump’s name, the board also approved moving forward with a planned two-year full closure of the center for a major renovation project — a proposal that the same federal judge had previously blocked earlier this year.
The conflict traces back to a May ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper, who found that Trump’s initial addition of his name to the Kennedy Center facade violated federal law. Cooper ruled that the venue, which is legally designated as a national memorial to John F. Kennedy, cannot be formally renamed without explicit approval from Congress. The judge ordered the immediate removal of Trump’s name, which was completed last month after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit declined to grant a last-minute emergency stay requested by the Trump administration to pause the work.
Trump’s legal team had argued that removing the name before the appeals process concluded would create unnecessary and lasting confusion if the administration ultimately won its legal challenge. Prior to Thursday’s board vote, the removal had proceeded as ordered, with the court’s ruling set to receive further full argument in the coming months.
The dispute is part of a broader set of rebranding measures rolled out by the Trump administration across Washington D.C. last year, which included adding Trump’s name to multiple public institutions and federal properties. Legal challenges have been mounted against several of those changes, arguing that they violate longstanding federal laws governing the naming of national memorials and public lands.