Trump’s new plan to put his name on DC landmark hits brick wall in court

US President Donald Trump looks on on the day he makes an announcement about an energy infrastructure project in Alaska, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., US, September 30, 2026. REUTERS Kevin Lam

President Donald Trump’s effort to put his name permanently on the U.S. Institute of Peace headquarters has run into fresh trouble in federal court, with an appeals panel stopping the administration from carving it into the building while a bitter fight over control of the organization continues.

A divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit granted a request from the institute’s ousted leadership Wednesday to block the proposed work, according to The New Republic. The order prevents the administration from making the lettering permanent for now.

Trump’s name is already on the striking glass-and-limestone headquarters near the National Mall. Large silver letters spelling out his name were attached to the exterior in December after the administration said the organization had been renamed the Donald J. Trump United States Institute of Peace.

Those letters, however, can be removed. The institute’s former leaders went back to court after learning that officials were allegedly preparing to take a more permanent step by carving Trump’s name directly into the facade.

Their lawyers said they understood that “a formal request for the work has been made and a contractor has been selected.”

The former board members argued that the change could not easily be undone if they ultimately win their case over who legally controls the institute.

“The threatened carving would impose serious irreparable harm,” their attorneys wrote in the emergency petition.

The ruling was not unanimous. Judge Karen Henderson, who was appointed by President George H.W. Bush, would have denied the request, according to the one-page order. The other two judges on the panel allowed the temporary restriction to go into effect.

The fight over Trump’s name is only one part of a legal battle that has stretched on for more than a year.

Congress created the U.S. Institute of Peace in 1984 as an independent nonprofit organization focused on preventing and resolving violent conflicts overseas. Trump targeted the institute shortly after returning to office, signing an executive order in February 2025 directing that its operations be reduced as far as permitted by law.

The administration later removed the institute’s leadership. Department of Government Efficiency personnel, accompanied by law enforcement and private security, entered its Washington headquarters in March 2025, and most employees were subsequently fired.

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell ruled in May 2025 that the takeover was unlawful, declaring actions taken by the newly installed leadership “null and void.” But an appeals court later put her ruling on hold, allowing Trump administration officials to retain control while the case moved forward.

The former board members have continued fighting for control of the organization and its headquarters, much of which they say was financed through private donations. Their attorneys also described the building itself as part of the institute’s identity and mission.

The appeals court’s latest order does not decide the larger question of whether Trump lawfully took control of the institute. Arguments in that case are expected in November.

For now, however, the court has drawn a line between the removable Trump lettering already hanging outside the building and permanently cutting his name into its facade.

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