U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper also pressed the center to answer the core question about its future: Will it stay open during two years of renovations?
Judge asks the Kennedy Center to explain tarps covering the building
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper also pressed the center to answer the core question about its future: Will it stay open during two years of renovations?
www.washingtonpost.com/style/2026/0...
— Jan McVicker (@jmcvicker.bsky.social) 2026-06-24T16:51:58.327Z
https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/2026/06/24/judge-asks-kennedy-center-explain-tarps-covering-building
Pilgrims have journeyed to the Kennedy Center over the past week and a half hoping to see proof that President Donald Trump’s name is gone from the building’s exterior. They’ve all left frustrated, many with the same question: Why is the tarp-covered scaffolding still up, 11 days after crews used it to take Trump’s name down?
Now a federal judge is asking the same thing — and has directed the Kennedy Center to give an answer.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper on Wednesday ordered the center’s board of trustees to file updates about the tarp-covered scaffolding and the center’s plans for maintaining operations and arts programming after July 5, the date it had intended to close for two years of renovations.
On May 29, Cooper ruled that the Trump-aligned trustees had illegally voted to rename the center, which Congress had exclusively named after the assassinated President John F. Kennedy, and ordered Trump’s name be erased from official materials within two weeks. On June 12, a 14-member crew erected scaffolding to comply with the deadline. The workers missed it, taking down the letters around 3 a.m. on June 13, and the center’s lawyers confirmed in a court filing later that morning that the work was done.
But the center left the scaffolding and tarps in place. Barricades staffed by security guards have kept people from approaching and blocked any view of the exterior.
In a statement last week, Kennedy Center spokeswoman Roma Daravi said the tarps and scaffolding “will remain up as crews address maintenance needs of the marble and soffit panels.”
On Monday, The Washington Post obtained photos showing the first public look at the facade since the name came down.
This judge is not happy
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