***BREAKING NEWS*** Judge Blocks Trump Changing Name of Kennedy Center and Closure

[DemocratSinceBirth]

PER CNN

[senseandsensibility]

1. Cool!

Better late than never. Wish it had happened sooner though.

[drray23]

2. at a snail's pace.

Trump did that months ago. Our justice system is a joke.

[Aristus]

3. Well, let's get somebody up there on a ladder and take down those damned letters that spell out his name.

I'd love to have him stroke out in a helpless fury.

[drray23]

4. that would be great.nt

[3catwoman3]

5. Yes, it would.

[Dave Bowman]

6. Great idea! 👍

[littlemissmartypants]

20. An Epic Fury? 😎❤️

[Luz]

38. This. Plus i want a pic of them throwing it all in the trash.

[Ms. Toad]

27. The courts are not designed to be the sole roadblock to a bully with dreams of being a dictator/king

The justice system is designed to be a slow, deliberate arbiter of justice, with at least one level of appeal to ensure the initial trial decision was correct - not a rapid response team.

Congress is failing to do its job - which is (in part) to be able to act quickly and check the power of someone like Trump.

Don't blame the justice system because it can't do what it was never intended to do.

[TomSlick]

31. Lawsuits take time.

The wheels of justice turn slowly, but grind exceedingly fine”

[onenote]

39. actually, the case against the renaming and closure of the Kennedy Center mover pretty quickly

The case challenging the renaming of the Kennedy Center was decided pretty quickly, assuming one believes in the concept of due process -- i.e., giving litigants an opportunity to present their case.

Specifically, Trump's name was added to the Kennedy Center on or about December 18. Kennedy Center Trustee Joyce Beatty filed suit challenging the renaming on or about December 22 but didn't serve the defendants until December 29 and proof of service wasn't filed until January 7. The defendants' response to the complaint was due onn March 2 pursuant to the Federal Rules but before that deadline, Beatty consented to a two week extension that pushed the response deadline to March 16. Then, on March 6, Beatty filed an amended complaint along with a motion for a temporary restraining order. Her TRO request did not focus on the renaming but instead sought to prevent the Kennedy Center Trustees from keeping her from participating in actions relating to the Center as a voting trustee. That very same day Judge Cooper held a zoom scheduling conference regarding the TRO. Judge Cooper gave the defendants only four days to respond and Beatty one day after that to reply, with a hearing the day after that-- a fast schedule. Two days later - March 14 - Judge Cooper issued a 37 page written decision on the TRO, granting Beatty some of the relief she requested but not going so far as to hold she has a right to vote on matters before the board. On March 16, the defendants proposed a schedule for addressing plaintiffs preliminary injunction motion, including the issue the renaming and proposed closure of the Kennedy Center. Under the defendants' proposed schedule, briefing would be complete in early May; however, the judge adopted a more expedited schedule in which all briefing on the various issues would be complete by April 17. The date for a hearing on the various motions and issues, including cross motions for summary judgment, was set for April 28. Meanwhile, on March 23, a separate complaint challenging the board of trustees actions was filed by the DC Preservation League which was the subject of a hearing on April 29. That led Judge Cooper to set a May 11 deadline for the parties in Beatty's case to submit supplemental pleadings related the DC Preservation League case. While the Defendants sought to file an additional pleading on May 26, Judge Cooper refused to allow that pleading in an order issued on May 29 concurrent with his 94 page written order granting Beatty's summary judgment motion on the renaming and closure issues in the form of a permanent -- not preliminary -- injunction.

So from start to finish, in a case with multiple issues and the further complication of a separate related case filed three months after the renaming, Judge Cooper, issuing lengthy written orders, resolved the motion for a TRO in injunction in around 8 days after it was filed and a decision on cross motions for summary judgment a month after the hearing on those motions and less than 3 weeks after supplemental briefing occasioned by the filing of the second lawsuit by the DC Preservation League.

[riversedge]

7. Judge Christopher Cooper rules it is NOT the "Trump-Kennedy Center".... It's the Kennedy Center

Judge Christopher Cooper rules it is NOT the “Trump-Kennedy Center”…. It’s the Kennedy Center

Link to tweet

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[Boomerproud]

10. I was thrilled when I read the piece, until the end about the appeal.

Again and again and again. It never ends.

[AZ8theist]

22. He'd appeal a judges ruling Eric was his biological son.

[BlueSpot]

29. To be fair, I would too if Eric was my kid. n/t

[Midnight Writer]

8. Trump will appeal this all the way to the Supreme Court.

Maybe we will get a final ruling in 5 or 6 years.

How long has E Jean Carroll been waiting to get her court-ordered settlement from Trump?

[Takket]

36. she won over three years ago. The Jury deliberarted only 3 hours.

she will never see any of the money.

[riversedge]

9. A federal judge has ordered the Kennedy Center to remove President Trump's name from the facade, website, letterhead, an

Yashar Ali 🐘 @yashar
·
57m
BREAKING

A federal judge has ordered the Kennedy Center to remove President Trump's name from the facade, website, letterhead, and official materials.

Congress named the Center by statute in 1964 - and the judge ruled only Congress can change it.

Link to tweet

?s=20

[GreenWave]

25. How about the Trump Lincoln Memorial?

Go for it, orange guy or are you too afraid of Republicans?

[malaise]

11. Huge

Enough of this effries

[sop]

12. One morning we'll wake up to find bulldozers totally razing the Kennedy Center to a pile of rubble.

Just like the East Wing, by the time courts (or Congress, God forbid) get around to doing something to stop the destruction, it'll be too late. The Kennedy Center sits on prime riverfront real estate; Trump wants it, and he'll take it. Courts be damned.

[riversedge]

13. .....It aslo HALTS TRUMP'S SHUTDOWN..........

Post
Conversation
Occupy Democrats
@OccupyDemocrats
BREAKING: HELL YES! A federal judge orders the removal of Donald Trump's name from the Kennedy Center and halts his shutdown of the beloved center.

This is an astonishing defeat for MAGA...

U.S. District Judge ‌Christopher ⁠Cooper has given the Trump administration just 14 days to remove every single sign at the center bearing Trump's name and to delete all references to a "Trump Kennedy Center" in official materials for the center.

Cooper's ruling is a permanent injunction which asserts that the center’s board of trustees — which is stocked with Donald's MAGA cronies — may not proceed with its plans to close the institution for two years. The bizarre closure was originally announced after a string of prominent artists canceled performances in response to Trump’s takeover of the center. Ticket sales were also struggling.

The judge explicitly stated that all signage is barred from indicating that the building “is named for any person other than President John F. Kennedy.”

Cooper slammed the board for using “an insufficient, one-sided presentation of information” when it moved to close the center. Meanwhile, federal law “makes crystal clear” that the center is named after Kennedy, an actual President.

This court defeat is a major black eye for Trump because unlike the Iran War or the skyrocketing price of groceries, it’s something he actually cares about.

As it becomes increasingly clear that he will go down as the worst President in American history, a leader who failed his people, future generations, and basic morality, Trump has been scrambling to carve out some kind of legacy for himself. It’s the same warped pathology that has him fixated on his ballroom, the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, his Triumph Arch, and slapping his face on $250.

Please ❤️ and share to thank the judge!

Link to tweet

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[riversedge]

15. :woohoo: The judge gave Trumpy 14 days to take his name off!! So, it will NOT be up for his birthday!!!

Link to tweet

?s=20

[Rob H.]

17. I love that they used one of the many photos

where his makeup makes his face look like a rotisserie chicken.

[johnnyfins]

14. Sorry Sleepy Don

You will never be as popular, as handsome, as charismatic or as American as JFK.

Too bad, so sad.

[Unrepentant Fenian]

16. I would pay good money to watch it come down 👎🏼

[Nanjeanne]

18. With Trumps Board in place the Kennedy Center

Will not be viable. It’s great to remove his name but the excellence of the venue has still been destroyed.

[state of stupid]

24. Just like the asshole put his board in place, the next President (hopefully a Democrat)

can get rid of the idiot's people and actually put people on the board that know what they are doing.

[Nanjeanne]

37. If it is still a viable entity at that time.

[twodogsbarking]

19. So when does construction on the "Donald Trump Center for the Notperforming Artists" start?

Donors are paying for it.

[wnylib]

23. He would charge taxpayers for it

[GoodRaisin]

21. Good. Hope it sticks.

[BigmanPigman]

26. He'll continue to do what he wants, he is above the law

He NEVER EVER follows any judge's orders for anything. He knows he has all three branches in his back pocket. Think about it.....when has he EVER followed any court rulings without taking everyone to court in return?

SCOTUS, Congress and POTUS own country, they know it and will continue as usual.

I've learned a lot about justice and $$$$$$$. The two are intertwined. Especially since tRump 2016.

[Blumancru]

28. Market manipulation again! that judge bought stock in Heinz ketchup

Before he announced the news.

[moonshinegnomie]

30. the orange pedo should be ordered to pay all costs for the removal of his name

out of his own pocket

[Initech]

32. Excellent! Fuck you Donny!

[Warpy]

33. Best of all, Fatso's name can't appear on any promotional material, at all

Not a single cocktail napkin, not anywhere.

While I doubt it will bother him that much since its opening is now also mandated (it was always too highbrow for him), I think the crooks and sycophants he shoved onto the BOD are going to have their shorts in very firm twists.

Best of all, the galas will continue, boycottted by all the MAGAts in DC, making the company and the conversation much more pleasant.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

34. MaddowBlog-Federal judge rules Trump's name must be removed from Kennedy Center

“Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it,” U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper said in his ruling.

Remember when Trump’s handpicked allies claimed they’d added his name to the Kennedy Center?

A judge just set them straight.

“Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it. ... The Kennedy Center must be named for, and is meant to honor, President Kennedy alone.”

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-05-29T19:36:05.727Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/federal-judge-permanently-blocks-effort-to-add-trumps-name-to-kennedy-center

U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper said in a 94-page ruling, “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. Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it.”

The president’s allies apparently tried to convince the judge the rebranding was little more than adding an informal nickname, but Cooper, an Obama appointee, didn’t buy it. From the ruling:

The rechristening is not, as Defendants suggest, like calling the “Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection” the “Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,” which is merely a clerical rearrangement. Nor is it akin to calling the Federal National Mortgage Association “Fannie Mae,” which, as even the Defendants admit, is simply a “play on the pronunciation of its acronym.” The administration’s efforts to alter the names of other institutions — calling the Department of Defense the “Department of War,” for example — are beside the point. Most fundamentally, none of these examples implicate a presidential memorial that was legislatively intended to honor a specific public figure. The “Trump Kennedy Center” label adds an entirely new name to the Center’s formal title and relegates President Kennedy’s name to second place. If that is not a renaming, what is?

.....Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty of Ohio, an ex officio member of the center’s board who was excluded from voting on the name change, quickly filed suit, arguing not only that the process was improper, but that the entire gambit was illegal for the simplest of reasons: A name change required congressional approval, and that had not happened.

Cooper agreed, writing, “The Kennedy Center must be named for, and is meant to honor, President Kennedy alone.”

As part of Friday’s order, which almost certainly will be appealed, ordered the administration to remove all physical signage and all other official documentation within 14 days. He also declared that Beatty must have voting rights as an ex officio member of the board.

If that weren’t enough, Cooper also blocked Trump’s appointees from closing the Kennedy Center’s doors on July 5 for planned restoration efforts in which the president has taken a keen interest.

“Today’s ruling rightly affirms that this administration’s efforts to rename and close the Center have no basis in law,” Beatty said in a statement. “The Kennedy Center is an institution that belongs to the American people, not to Donald Trump. He has desecrated this sacred memorial for his own vanity. I am proud to have fought for the rule of law and to protect this sacred institution.”

The president was far less pleased.

This ruling made me smile

[TomSlick]

35. Link to the decision below.

It's a long read; with pages of tedious, albeit necessary, discussion of standing.

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28173954-cooper-kennedy-center-opinion/