The Kennedy Center, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (White House photo)

A federal appeals court has rejected a request to restore the Trump name to the arts center previously known as the Kennedy Center while the court fight over the issue develops.

The Washington Examiner reported the leftist U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said there would be no “irreparable harm” from having the Trump name, which already has been removed, off the building for the duration of the dispute.

🚨 The D.C. Circuit denied the Trump administration’s request to restore President Trump’s name to the Kennedy Center while the appeal proceeds, leaving in place an order requiring his name to be removed from the building, website, and related trademarks. pic.twitter.com/6DaG8y4w2S

— SCOTUS Wire (@scotus_wire) July 8, 2026

Donald Trump loses bid to restore his name to the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.

Regarding the claim that the Kennedy Center will suffer financial harm if it is not permitted to reinstate Trump’s name, the U.S. appeals court said in its ruling that the center had “failed to… pic.twitter.com/ukRZYXrLLB

— Variety (@Variety) July 8, 2026

It was an order from Judge Christopher Cooper that demanded all references to President Donald Trump be removed of the center’s building, website and promotional materials.

The Obama-appointed judge has a long history of antagonism toward Trump, and his micromanagement of the naming of the building, which is badly in need of major repairs, follows suit.

Two of the three judges issuing the opinion, which supported the lower court Obama judge, also were appointed by Obama.

Trump had announced plans to close the center for a two-year period to allow renovations and restorations, projects that likely would conflict with public use of the building during that time, but once again, Cooper jumped into micromanaging and ordered that the building stay open during the construction work.