A federal judge ruled against adding President Donald Trump’s name to theJohn F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, a move that infuriated Trump.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, sided with ex officio board member Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), who opposed the renovation project.
The building had been set to close for two years starting on July 5.
Trump spoke out against the ruling Friday, stating that the judge should be “ashamed of himself.”
“Judge Cooper was given a presentation by leading Building and Construction Experts as to how structurally dangerous the Building is, with rotting beams, parking areas that are subject to collapse, and various other Life and Safety problems, in addition to the fact that it also needs a MAJOR renovation, from an aesthetic standpoint, but he was not ‘swayed,’ and said he wants the Building to, incredibly, remain open and, therefore, dangerous,” the president wrote on Truth Social.
“Judge Cooper should be ashamed of himself!” Trump continued. “I cannot be involved with a situation where danger to the Public is allowed to flourish in plain and open sight.”
The president said he has ordered the Commerce Department to “make all necessary arrangements” to grant Congress authority over the institution’s upkeep.
Cooper cited Congress’s authority over any name changes to the Kennedy Center.
“The Kennedy Center’s organic statute makes crystal clear that the Center is to be named for President Kennedy, and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board’s unilateral say-so,” Cooper wrote in his ruling.
The planned Kennedy Center renovations are part of the Trump administration’s broader efforts to update landmarks in Washington, D.C., under his D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force.
The president’s demolition of the East Wing of the White House to build a ballroom has drawn legal challenges, as has his renovation project at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
Maria Shriver, Kennedy’s niece, reveled with the news.
“An appropriate birthday present on my uncle’s birthday today. A federal judge ruled that President Trump and the Kennedy Center Board acted unlawfully in renaming the Kennedy Center,” she wrote on X. “The judge held that only Congress can change the Center’s name and blocked the planned two-year closure. I know they’ll probably appeal and the story isn’t over, but for today let’s celebrate a great birthday gift.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) thought otherwise.
“When it comes to federal district court judges and President Trump, things are getting way out of control,” Graham posted in X.
“I can’t believe a federal judge would deny President Trump — working with the Trump Kennedy Center Board — the ability to close the center for renovations. What a judicial power grab.”
“I’ll be honored to work with President Trump and his team to make sure the renovations move forward,” Graham continued. “I also personally support allowing President Trump’s name to be attached to the center because he’s done more than any president since the founding of the center to renovate it, protect it and have it flourish.”
