A panel of three judges on Wednesday turned down a request from the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees to restore President Donald Trump’s name to the building while the board pursues an appeal. The judges had earlier ruled that adding his name to the venue was illegal, and that decision led to the name being removed.
The ruling is the latest blow to the board, which Trump chairs, in a legal dispute that began earlier this year when the performing arts institution was renamed “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.”
The high-profile name addition — and the court fight that followed — came to represent Trump’s broader effort to leave his mark on the nation’s capital during his final term in office.
In their Wednesday ruling, the judges stated that the board “failed to show how they will be irreparably injured” if Trump’s name stays off the building while the appeal moves forward.
The board had contended that keeping his name off the building “threatens to impede” the center’s ability to raise funds. However, the judges determined that argument was not backed by “specific facts or evidence.”
A federal judge earlier this year declared the name change unlawful, and Trump’s name was taken down from the building’s white marble facade in June. The Kennedy Center did not respond to a request for comment before publication.
