Rep. Beatty files emergency motion to bar Trump name at Kennedy Center
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U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty asked a federal judge to halt the Kennedy Center board’s plan to add President Donald Trump’s name to the venue’s signage and rename its grounds, citing congressional authority over the center’s name.
U.S. Representative Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) filed an emergency motion late Thursday requesting that a federal judge stop the Kennedy Center’s board from placing former President Donald J. Trump’s name on three locations at the arts complex and from renaming the site "President Donald J. Trump Plaza."
Beatty’s attorneys argued that only Congress can change the center’s name, which is mandated as a memorial to President John F. Kennedy. They told Judge Christopher Cooper that the board’s plan would put Trump’s name on the front portico twice and add a third sign on the grounds.
The board’s proposed signage would read: "The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump, Endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund," with the final line contingent on a $100 million donation target.
In May, Judge Cooper ruled that a prior attempt to rename the institution as the Trump-Kennedy Center violated the center’s organic statute, which reserves naming authority to Congress. The board approved its latest plan on Aug. 13 and indicated it would not add Trump’s name before Sept. 8, a deadline Beatty’s team called “arbitrary.”
"The board's repeated efforts to break the law are a breathtaking act of defiance, but I will continue to stand up against all unlawful acts—enough is enough. The Kennedy Center is a sacred space that belongs to the American people," Beatty said in an emailed statement.
The Kennedy Center did not respond to a request for comment.