Opinion: Did a Judge’s Ruling Save the Kennedy Center—Or Condemn It?

D.C. Judge Christopher Cooper’s ruling—that Congress created the Kennedy Center and only Congress can authorize what comes next for the now nearly-shuttered building was a plot twist truly worthy of the theater after months of Trumpian showboating and intrigue at the renowned performing arts venue. Cooper, an Obama appointee, temporarily halted the planned two-year closure for renovations and gave President Trump two weeks to take his name off the building dedicated to the memory of John F. Kennedy, a beloved fallen president.

A man walks by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, after White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt announced that the Kennedy Center board decided to rename the institution the Trump-Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. on December 18, 2025. / Kevin Lamarque / REUTERS

At the Arts Club of Washington, a small concert venue, the group’s president declared in very distinct language that she was happy to introduce a soprano who had performed with “the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.” The audience whooped and hollered, said Kandy Stroud, who was there. A member of the Choral Arts Society who had performed many times at the Kennedy Center in the pre-Trump era, Stroud told the Daily Beast she felt “great relief” at Judge Cooper’s ruling.

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