Trump’s name added to Kennedy Center to reflect name change
Construction workers added President Donald Trump’s name to the Kennedy Center to reflect the center’s name change.
- Representative Joyce Beatty of Ohio has filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration.
- The lawsuit alleges that changing the name of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to include Trump’s name was illegal.
- Director Beattie claims the vote is a “sham” and that only Parliament can legally change the centre’s name.
- The lawsuit asks that the name change be declared illegal and that the new sign be removed.
An Ohio lawmaker is suing President Donald J. Trump and his administration, claiming that changing the name of the John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Center violated the law.
Representative Joyce Beatty filed the lawsuit on December 22nd in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The filing comes days after members of the Kennedy Center Board of Directors, of which Beatty is a member, voted to change the center’s name and add Trump’s name to the front end.
Immediately after the vote, workers were seen installing new giant letters reading “Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts” outside the Washington, D.C., landmark.
“In a scene more reminiscent of an authoritarian regime than an American republic, a sitting president and his hand-picked allies renamed this storied center,” the complaint says. “This is a clear violation of the rule of law and is contrary to our country’s constitutional order.”
Mr. Beatty is asking a federal court to rule that the center’s name change is illegal and order the new sign bearing Mr. Trump’s name to be removed.
The lawsuit says Congress intended the arts center, named for President John F. Kennedy in the months after his assassination in November 1963, to be a “living monument” and “an artistic treasure for all Americans, regardless of party affiliation.”
Beatty is a Democrat representing Ohio’s 3rd Congressional District and is an ex-officio member of the Kennedy Center Board of Directors. After the Dec. 18 vote, Beatty posted a video to Blue Sky in which he said he was repeatedly muted and prevented from speaking during board meetings. Beatty said the board’s unanimous vote to change the center’s name is inaccurate.
Beatty describes the meeting in her lawsuit as a “thinly veiled sham.” According to the complaint, the meeting was held at the home of Andrea Wynn, one of Mr. Trump’s supporters, whose husband was appointed by Mr. Trump to the board. There was no notice during the meeting that a name change would be considered, according to the complaint.
“This process was simply a window dressing for a predetermined decision,” the complaint states. “Defendants’ pre-procurement of signage for the Kennedy Center’s main portico and their pre-arrangement for the arrival of work crews the day after the Board meeting demonstrate that Defendants had planned to rename the Kennedy Center after Donald Trump, and nothing would or could change their mind.”
In addition to Trump, the lawsuit also names Kennedy Center Director Richard Grenell and other members of the center’s board of directors. Its members include Attorney General Pam Bondi, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“Under our constitutional system, only Congress can amend statutes, and Congress must do so by enacting new statutes. Congress has not changed the name of the Kennedy Center. Rather, Defendants are willfully ignoring the law to satisfy Defendant Trump’s vanity.”
The Columbus Dispatch, part of the USA TODAY Network, reached out to the Kennedy Center for comment but did not receive a response.
Reporter Bethany Bruner can be reached at bbruner@dispatch.com or at Bluesky @bethanybruner.dispatch.com.
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