Kennedy Center Board Votes to Close Building as Judge Rules Trump Naming Push Illegal

Trump's handpicked Kennedy Center board voted Sept. 15, 2026, to immediately shutter the arts center for renovations, hours after U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled the board's latest effort to add Trump's name to the building's facade was illegal, NBC News reported. Cooper found the board "cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress's blessing," rejecting arguments that donations and finances depended on using the Trump name. The board separately drafted, but did not vote on, a resolution declaring the center faced bankruptcy unless Trump personally rescued it in exchange for recognition on the building. The center's chief financial officer resigned the same day.

Trump, who chairs the board he appointed, said on Truth Social that renovations would not proceed unless his name was added, even though Congress had already appropriated $250 million for the project. Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, who has fought the closure and renaming in court, called the board's conduct "as breathtaking as it is wrong."

The administration appealed Cooper's ruling the same night. Beatty's attorneys say they will oppose the board's expected request to lift the court's block on a full closure.