BS BULLETIN:
- Former leaders of the U.S. Institute of Peace are asking a federal appeals court to stop President Donald Trump’s name from being permanently carved into the organization’s Washington headquarters.
- Trump’s name is already displayed on the building, which the administration renamed the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace in December 2025.
- The latest emergency filing comes amid an ongoing legal battle over the Trump administration’s takeover of the congressionally created institute.
The fight over the U.S. Institute of Peace has apparently reached the chisel-and-stone phase.
Former members of the institute’s board filed an emergency motion Thursday asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to prevent the Trump administration from permanently engraving President Donald Trump’s name into the organization’s Washington headquarters.
Trump’s name is already prominently displayed on the building after the administration renamed the organization the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace in December 2025. Federal records have since referred to the organization by that name.
But the former board members contend the administration may be preparing to take a much more permanent step.
According to The Hill, their filing says they learned that a contractor had been selected to carve Trump’s name into the building. The former officials said they sought assurances from the administration that no permanent engraving would take place while litigation over control of the institute continues, but did not receive the commitment they wanted.
They are now asking the appeals court to intervene before any carving begins.
NOT JUST THE KENNEDY CENTER: U.S. Institute of Peace asks for emergency relief to bar any “plans to carve President Trump’s name into the facade of the iconic USIP headquarters building.” pic.twitter.com/nvWD6jaD5P
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) September 17, 2026
The unusual dispute is the latest chapter in a much larger legal war over the institute. Congress created the U.S. Institute of Peace in 1984 as an independent organization focused on international conflict resolution and peacebuilding.
The Trump administration moved against the organization in 2025, firing its leadership and taking control of its headquarters. Former institute officials challenged those actions in court, setting off litigation over who legally controls the organization and its property.
That fight remains unresolved — and the former board members argue that permanently altering the building while the case is still being litigated could create a change that would be difficult to undo later.
The administration, meanwhile, has already treated the renaming as official. A January 2026 Justice Department court filing noted that the institute had been renamed the “Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace.”
Now a federal appeals court may have to decide whether the new name stays merely attached to the building — or gets literally carved in stone.
I’m not so sure he needs his name on that many buildings. And if you want to look at an arch, go to Paris.