A federal judge ruled Friday that President Donald Trump’s name must be removed from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and prohibited closing the center while it undergoes renovations.

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ordered that all signage and references to the “Trump Kennedy Center” must be removed within 14 days.

“The Kennedy Center’s organic statute makes crystal clear that the Center is to be named for President Kennedy, and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board’s unilateral say-so,” Cooper, an Obama appointee, wrote in a 94-page decision. “Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it.”

The center immediately said it plans to appeal Cooper’s decision.

“We are confident that on appeal the court will uphold the Board’s will to recognize President Trump’s historic contributions to our nation’s cultural center,” Roma Daravi, the center’s vice president of public relations, said in a statement.

The ruling also blocked the planned closure of the center for two years for renovations, a move that was set to begin July 4. Cooper said any needed repairs to the building can proceed, and a closure in the future may be lawful if the center’s board is more thoroughly consulted.

“None of the board members had sufficient information in advance of the March 16 meeting to make a well-considered decision to close the center,” Cooper wrote.

Daravi said the center will “review the decision carefully” with regard to the closing prohibition.

“The Center requires an urgent and significant restoration — a truth that even the plaintiff acknowledges,” Daravi said in a statement to NOTUS. “With $257 million secured by President Trump and approved by Congress, the resources are in place and we remain committed to pursuing every lawful avenue to ensure the Trump Kennedy Center is restored as a national cultural landmark for all Americans to enjoy.”

The center’s board voted in December to rename the institution. Several months prior, Trump fired several incumbent trustees from the board and appointed new members, including himself. The board then named him chairman of the center.

Trump posted to Truth Social later Friday that he would direct the Commerce Department to move the operation, maintenance and management of the Kennedy Center under Congress’ purview.

“Unfortunately, Judge Cooper and the Radical Left would rather see it DIE than have President Trump transform it into something that everyone could be proud of,” Trump said in a long post about the center, adding, “We are going to be working with Congress to transfer this failing Institution back to them so they can make a determination as to what to do with it.”

Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat and an ex-officio member of the center’s board of trustees, sued Trump to block the renaming.

Beatty said in a statement late Friday that the ruling shows Trump’s actions with the center “have no basis in law.”

“The Kennedy Center is an institution that belongs to the American people, not to Donald Trump,” Beatty said. “He has desecrated this sacred memorial for his own vanity. I am proud to have fought for the rule of law and to protect this sacred institution.”

The judge said in the opinion that there’s a long tradition of boards stocked with political supporters and personal acquaintances but that those appointed still had a duty to perform.

“By way of this opinion, the Court does not purport to dictate how the Center should be run, nor does it prescribe any particular plan for the institution — construction, closure, or otherwise — moving forward. It simply holds the Kennedy Center Board to certain minimum requirements imposed by law. Beyond that, the Court will let the parties play on.”

This story has been updated to include a social media post by President Trump and statement from Rep. Beatty.