A federal appeals court has denied the Department of Justice’s request for an administrative stay of a court order requiring the removal of President Donald Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center.
The ruling follows a partial summary judgment issued on May 29 in favour of Representative Joyce Beatty, an ex officio member of the Centre’s board, who sued to block the name change and a planned two-year shutdown.
Judge Cooper denied a motion for stay, citing “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.”
Following the ruling, the Centre’s general counsel sent a memo on June 4 instructing remaining staff to “immediately change email signatures, letterhead, and other documents to reflect the name as ‘The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,’ or ‘Kennedy Center.'”
The Centre had 14 days to carry out the name change following the original court order, with the deadline falling squarely amid broader turmoil at the institution.
That turmoil stems in part from a breach of contract complaint filed by the Washington National Opera, which has been affiliated with the Centre for 15 years.
The opera’s development operations were largely handled by the Kennedy Center until 2025, when Trump fired the old board, installed himself as chair, and made Ric Grenell the executive director.
According to the complaint, the Centre fired all employees running development for the Washington National Opera under their affiliation agreement and largely ceased processing donations for the opera.
When the parties agreed to sever their relationship, the Centre abruptly cut off the opera’s access to its own electronic data stored on the Kennedy Centre’s systems, including emails, donor information, meeting minutes, and Board of Trustees records.
The Centre has also refused to return the Washington National Opera’s endowment funds, which total an alleged $17 million, with the opera stating that “five months have now passed since the termination of the affiliation, and the Kennedy Center still has not returned the funds to WNO.”
According to the Kennedy Centre’s own Chief Financial Officer, a significant portion of the opera’s money has been put at risk by being used to collateralise the Kennedy Centre’s line of credit.
The suit further alleges the organisation failed even to process donations, resulting in the loss of a $50,000 gift when the Centre failed to run a donor’s credit card.
The Kennedy Centre, in its response, argued that “taking into account the WNO’s endowment, BDO calculated that the WNO accumulated a $72 million deficit to the Center from 2011 through 2026.”
A Kennedy Centre spokesperson said the Washington National Opera “failed to engage in good-faith discussions” to resolve the dispute, adding that the “lawsuit is meritless, and we plan to pursue a countersuit to defend the institution.”
The Washington National Opera stated in its court filing that “the funds held by the Kennedy Center represent years of gifts and contributions made by loyal WNO donors who specifically directed their support to benefit WNO and its mission.”
The opera cited the Kennedy Centre’s status as a federally chartered entity and its membership in the Smithsonian Institution in its legal challenge, which lists the federal government as the defendant.