A federal appeals court on Wednesday night put the brakes on any plan to carve President Donald Trump’s name into the U.S. Institute of Peace building, at least for now.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a one-sentence order blocking any move forward on the engraving. The court offered no explanation. The order will stay in place until the judges issue a final ruling in the broader case, with oral arguments scheduled for November.
The dispute stems from a lawsuit filed by former board members of the institute who were removed by the president. They are challenging the Trump administration’s takeover of the institute, which the appeals court has allowed to continue while the case plays out.
Trump’s name already appears on signage outside the institute’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. Last month, the ousted board members went back to court, raising concerns that the administration planned to permanently carve the president’s name into the building’s facade.
In their filings, the former board members argued that the headquarters is a “work of expressive architecture” and that Trump’s name should not be etched into it while the legal fight remains unresolved.
“Alteration of the design to impose a different message would cause irreparable harm,” their attorneys wrote.
The former board members first filed suit in March 2025 after Trump removed them. The institute is one of many agencies across the federal bureaucracy that the president has targeted since returning to the White House.
A federal district judge initially sided with the former board members, finding that the firings were carried out without legal authority and that the takeover was not permitted. However, the D.C. Circuit put that ruling on hold while it reviews the case.
The appeals court is now weighing the impact of a major Supreme Court decision that gutted removal protections for independent agencies, a ruling that could further strengthen the president’s hand in the dispute.
Citing that decision, the Justice Department urged the D.C. Circuit to reject the former board members’ request.
The Justice Department also pushed back on the claim that an engraving was imminent. According to its filings, the State Department had only carried out “preparatory market research” for the project, which included reaching out to vendors and obtaining estimates.
“However, the Department has authorized us to state that it did not take further action with awards or selecting a vendor for any engraving since that time and has no current plans to move forward with engraving the building or retaining wall,” the Justice Department wrote in court filings on Monday.
Despite those assurances, the appeals court moved to block the plan, leaving the question of whether Trump’s name will ever be carved into the institute’s headquarters unanswered until the judges rule on the underlying case.
For now, the president’s name will remain on the signage outside the building, but not etched into its stone. The legal battle over control of the U.S. Institute of Peace, and over the scope of the president’s power to remove officials, is set to continue when the case goes before the court in November.
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