The Kennedy Center was renamed the “Trump-Kennedy Center” by a unanimous vote of its Board of Trustees on December 18, 2025, and new signage went up on the building within a day. The institution’s legal name has not changed. Under Title 20 of the U.S. Code, it remains the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and altering that name requires an act of Congress. A lawsuit filed in March 2026 is now asking a federal court to force the original name back.
What the Board Did in December 2025
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the board’s unanimous vote on December 18, 2025. Workers began installing the new name on the building almost immediately. The vote followed months of signals from the administration, including a proposed budget increase for the center and public comments from President Trump about the building’s condition.
Congressional Democrats objected the same week. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a joint statement that “federal law established the Center as a memorial to President Kennedy and prohibits changing its name without Congressional action.” Days later, Rep. April McClain Delaney introduced H.R. 6925, the Kennedy Center Protection Act, which would reinforce the statutory naming provisions.
Why the Legal Name Is Still the Kennedy Center
Two statutes are doing the work here. In 1958, President Eisenhower signed the National Cultural Center Act authorizing a national performing arts venue in Washington, D.C. After President Kennedy’s assassination, Congress amended that act in January 1964 through Public Law 88-260, renaming the project the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and designating it a living memorial to Kennedy. The 1964 law also declared that any reference to the “National Cultural Center” in any federal document would, from that point forward, refer to the Kennedy Center.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 20 USC Chapter 3, Subchapter V: John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
A second provision goes further. 20 U.S.C. § 76q designates the center as “the sole national memorial to the late John Fitzgerald Kennedy within the city of Washington and its environs.”2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 20 USC Chapter 3, Subchapter V: John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts The name is a congressional designation tied to a national memorial, not a brand controlled by management. That is the reason the December vote is contested rather than merely unpopular.
A related statute limits what the board itself can add to public areas of the building. Under 20 U.S.C. § 76j, no additional memorials or memorial-style plaques may be designated or installed in public spaces after December 2, 1983. Narrow exceptions exist for plaques acknowledging foreign gifts, theater chair or box donations, and inscriptions on marble walls recognizing major contributions, but only under policies the board already had in place as of that 1983 date.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 20 USC 76j Whether adding Trump’s name to the building’s exterior counts as a “memorial” under this provision is one of the questions running through the current dispute.
The center is also legally established as a bureau within the Smithsonian Institution. The Board of Trustees administers it on the Smithsonian’s behalf, and the Secretary of the Smithsonian sits on the board. The statute directs the board to construct and maintain the building for the Smithsonian, which reinforces the center’s identity as a federal cultural institution rather than a private venue.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 20 USC Chapter 3, Subchapter V: John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
The Lawsuit and the House Bill
In March 2026, Rep. Joyce Beatty filed a lawsuit seeking to force the administration to restore the original name. The argument is that because Congress created the center by statute and designated it a memorial, only Congress can alter its name. The filing stated that “by renaming the Center — in violation of the law — Defendants have breached the terms of the trust and their most basic fiduciary obligations as trustees.” The Kennedy Center responded that it was “confident the court will uphold the board’s decision.” As of mid-2026, the case remains unresolved.
H.R. 6925, the Kennedy Center Protection Act, is the legislative track running alongside the litigation. It would reinforce the existing statutory naming provisions rather than create new ones. It has not been enacted.
Who Sits on the Board That Voted
Thirty-six general trustees serve on the board, each appointed by the President of the United States for six-year terms.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 20 USC Chapter 3, Subchapter V: John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts The board that voted unanimously to add Trump’s name was composed largely of his own appointees. Critics have pointed to that composition as evidence that the vote was not an independent institutional decision.
The center operates as a public-private partnership. The President’s fiscal year 2026 budget provides $37.2 million in federal funding, split between $32.34 million for operations and maintenance and $4.86 million for capital repairs.4The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Fiscal Year 2026 Congressional Budget Justification The rest of the center’s revenue comes from ticket sales, donations, and its private endowment. Federal law gives the board independence on artistic and trust-fund decisions, which cannot be reviewed by any government officer or agency other than a court.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 20 USC Chapter 3, Subchapter V: John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts That last clause is why the court, and not the executive branch, is the forum where the naming question will be decided.
The Separate Melania Trump Opera House Proposal
The December board vote is not the only naming fight at the center, and the two are easy to confuse. In July 2025, the House Appropriations Committee passed an amendment that would rename the center’s Opera House after First Lady Melania Trump. That proposal took the legislative route, which is the legally correct path for altering a federally designated space. It highlighted the tension between the memorial restriction in § 76j and Congress’s authority to amend the statute. The appropriations language has not been enacted into law as of mid-2026. The Opera House itself continues to carry its original name, as does the Concert Hall and the Eisenhower Theater, named for the president who signed the 1958 act creating the original National Cultural Center.5Kennedy Center. Creating the National Cultural Center
For now, the practical picture is split. The signage on the building says one thing. The U.S. Code says another. Which one governs is what the courts are being asked to decide.