President Trump announced Friday that his administration would hand control of the Kennedy Center over to Congress, just hours after a federal judge ordered his name removed from the iconic Washington venue and blocked his plans to shut it down for renovations.
In a Truth Social post, Trump said he had directed the US Commerce Department to “make all necessary arrangements with Congress to allow a full and complete transfer of this Institution,” putting lawmakers in charge of its operation, maintenance and management. How exactly that transfer would work in practice was not immediately clear.
What the Judge Ruled
US District Judge Christopher Cooper issued the ruling Friday, finding that Trump’s decision to rename the performing arts venue the “Trump Kennedy Center” was unlawful. The judge ordered all physical signage bearing Trump’s name to come down and any references to a “Trump Kennedy Center” in official materials to be removed within 14 days.
“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. “Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it.”
Cooper also blocked the Trump administration’s planned two-year closure of the center for major renovations, though he said repairs to the aging building, which he described as “sorely needed,” could still go ahead.
Trump’s Response
Trump pushed back hard on the ruling in his Friday Truth Social post, arguing that major renovations could not happen while the building remained open and that keeping it operating during construction would put people at risk.
“Judge Cooper should be ashamed of himself! I cannot be involved with a situation where danger to the Public is allowed to flourish in plain and open sight,” he wrote.
“There has never been a President of the United States who has been treated so unfairly by the Courts as I but, that’s OK, I will continue to do, what is considered to be, a great job for the wonderful people of our Country,” Trump added.
How the Lawsuit Came About
The case was brought by Ohio Democratic Representative Joyce Beatty, who sits on the Kennedy Center’s board by virtue of her position in Congress. Beatty filed the lawsuit in December, calling the renaming “a flagrant violation of the rule of law” that “flies in the face of our constitutional order.”
After Friday’s ruling, Beatty said the Kennedy Center “is an institution that belongs to the American people, not to Donald Trump.”
Part of a Bigger Push
Trump’s Kennedy Center plans are one piece of a broader effort to reshape Washington He also has plans to build a 250-foot arch and a 90,000-square-foot ballroom on the site of the demolished East Wing of the White House. Those projects are facing their own legal challenges, though a federal appeals court has allowed the ballroom project to move forward while a lawsuit against it is considered.