Federal judge blocks Trump from officially renaming Kennedy Center

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:00]Just the last few hours, a federal judge says President Trump cannot officially rename the Kennedy Center. The new filing just in says Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it, ordering the administration to remove the new signage and change the website in the next 14 days. The judge will also stop the president from closing the performing arts facility for 2 years while it goes through repair work. However, it does not prevent work from actually getting done. Democratic Congresswoman Joyce Beatty is on board and brought the lawsuit. She on the board, I should say, brought the lawsuit. And she writes in a statement to NBC News, quote, "The Kennedy Center is an institution that belongs to the American people, not to Donald Trump." The president has taken a hands-on approach to the Kennedy Center, naming himself the chair and undoing the board. But you can see ticket sales have been dropping dramatically, down by more than 50% from last year. That according to a New York Times analysis. NBC's Monica Alba is at the White House with this. Monica, talk us through this ruling. Why does this judge say the president's name has to come down and that the closure has to stop?

[00:01:13]>> It's exactly what you pointed to in the introduction, Tom, which is this issue of Congress needing to play a role in this. That this isn't something that can be done arbitrarily by the Kennedy Center board, which remember the president did appoint many of his own allies to, and that is when they had this overwhelming vote to try to advance some of what the president wanted to see happen to the very historic building and memorial to former President John F.

[00:01:37]Kennedy. And so that is where you saw all of these different changes take place, but this judge is saying that that is not the way that it should have happened potentially. Now, what's interesting here is that in this ruling, they are saying essentially that the Kennedy Center shouldn't go forward with its planned closure, but they had already laid off a lot of the staff in anticipation of what they thought would be a closure. So, it's unclear exactly what is going to happen to that part of it, which is interesting, of course, to us, Tom, but also to the fact that the president did have his own name, as you see there in that video, affixed to the outside of the Performing Arts Center.

[00:02:13]And if it is going to come down within the next couple of weeks, when exactly that's going to happen is unclear. We have reached out to the White House for their reaction and their response, and they have not weighed in yet. But, this is the kind of thing that you almost certainly can expect President Trump to weigh to weigh in on himself. This is just part of his major plan, and really his, I think you could call it near obsession with some of the renovation projects, not just at the White House, as we've seen with the East Room and with the ballroom project, but with things like the Kennedy Center and beyond that, where he's really trying to leave his mark and his stamp physically on the Washington area and beyond, Tom.

[00:02:54]>> Absolutely, we've not yet heard from the president, but a reminder, of course, that the Kennedy Center was named by Congress a monument to former President John F. Kennedy after his assassination.

[00:03:04]Monica, thank you. We thank you for watching, and remember, stay updated on breaking news and top stories on the NBC News app or watch live on our YouTube channel.