Judge Denies Trump's Last Ditch Bid To Keep His Name On The Kennedy Center
Trump made a last-ditch effort to beat the Friday deadline and keep his name on the Kennedy Center building, but a judge denied the request.
Donald Trump really wanted to keep his name on The Kennedy Center building. The administration made a last-minute request for a stay of the order that Trump’s name was to be removed from the building on Friday.
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Judge Christopher Cooper denied Trump’s request in a minute order:
Defendants' 55 Motion for a Stay of Permanent Injunction Pending Appeal is hereby DENIED. "A stay pending appeal is an extraordinary remedy" and may only be granted if the traditional stay factors are satisfied. KalshiEX LLC v. CFTC, 119 F.4th 58, 63 (D.C. Cir. 2024) (cleaned up). Defendants have not carried their burden to establish that a stay of the Court's May 29, 2026 permanent injunction concerning the Kennedy Center's renaming is warranted pending an appeal of the underlying ruling to the D.C. Circuit.
Most notably, for the detailed reasons laid out in the Court's ruling, Defendants have not "made a strong showing that [they] are likely to succeed on the merits" of any appeal. Nken v. Holder, 556 U.S. 418, 426 (2009) (quoting Hilton v. Braunskill, 481 U.S. 770, 776 (1987)). Nor have Defendants demonstrated that they "will be irreparably injured absent a stay," id. (quoting Hilton, 481 U.S. at 776), given both the de minimis resources that would be required to restore the Center's current name in the event of a successful appeal and the lack of record evidence linking increased donations to the current name.
The administration was unable to demonstrate that it is likely to prevail on appeal, and it did not provide any evidence of irreparable injury. The administration could not provide proof that donations to The Kennedy Center increased with Trump’s name on the building.
