by Natalia Mittelstadt
Ohio Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty, a John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts trustee, has filed a federal civil lawsuit asking the court to remove President Trump’s name.
Beatty filed the suit late last month, CBS News reported Wednesday. The suit asks the court to rule that the center’s board members violated the law in voting to add Trump’s name to the Washington, D.C., venue.
In a statement Beatty said,“Only Congress has the authority to rename the Kennedy Center. President Trump and his cronies must not be allowed to trample federal law and bypass Congress to feed his ego. This entire process has been a complete disgrace to this cherished institution and the people it serves. These unlawful actions must be blocked before any further damage is done.”
“The President and his sycophants have no lawful authority to rename the Kennedy Center,” said Amb. Norman Eisen (ret.), founder of Democracy Defenders Action and Nathaniel Zelinsky, Senior Counsel at Washington Litigation Group. “Congress named the Kennedy Center as a national memorial to President Kennedy, and only Congress can change that. We are proud to represent Congresswoman Beatty as she defends the integrity of this institution and the separation of powers.”
“Declare that the name of Kennedy Center is ‘The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’ and declare that the vote to change the Kennedy Center’s name is null and void, and without legal effect, according to the 18-page suit.
The suit also argues that soon after Kennedy was assassinated, Congress designated the yet-to-be-built performing arts center “as the sole national memorial to the late President within the nation’s capital.”
“Because Congress named the center by statute, changing the Kennedy Center’s name requires an act of Congress,” the lawsuit said. “But on Dec. 18 and 19, 2025 – in scenes more reminiscent of authoritarian regimes than the American republic – the sitting President and his handpicked loyalists renamed this storied center after President Trump. This is a flagrant violation of the rule of law, and it flies in the face of our constitutional order.”
Multiple sources told the news outlet that the Trump administration is expected to formally respond to Beatty’s lawsuit by the end of February.
The Kennedy Center board members, who were appointed by Trump last February after he ousted the sitting board members, voted to rename the center as part of Trump’s overhaul of the facility. The board elected Trump as chairman in February, and Richard Grenell was named interim president and executive director.
It is unknown how much the cost has been for the changes to the signage, website and other Kennedy Center monikers.
A Kennedy Center spokeswoman told CBS News when asked about the cost, “President Trump deserves credit for saving America’s cultural center after years of neglect — as the very legislators attacking him now sat idly by while the center fell into disrepair.”
Norm Eisen, an attorney who is among those challenging the name change in the lawsuit, told the news outlet, “The damages have been substantial, and that will be addressed in the case. They include far more, of course, than the high cost of signage and of the other naming changes. The losses to the performing corps, to the audience base, to the bottom line of the Center, to its memorial and other activities and indeed to the arts and arts education themselves have been vast.”
Also, Maryland Democratic Rep. April McClain Delaney last month announced she was introducing a bill to “require the removal of any signage or other identification from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts that differs from the designation ‘John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.”
McClain Delaney told CBS News, “A president can’t enshrine himself. This is what authoritarian leaders do,” adding that “it’s arrogant and it’s narcissistic.”
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Natalia Mittelstadt is a reporter for Just the News. Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network and contributed to this story.
This lady is just spiteful. Poor excuse for legislation.
““The President and his sycophants have no lawful authority to rename the Kennedy Center,” said Amb. Norman Eisen (ret.), founder of Democracy Defenders Action and Nathaniel Zelinsky, Senior Counsel at Washington Litigation Group.”
Such petty, hateful little people. This imbecile ex-ambassador doesn’t even know what form of government we have, either. We’re a Republic.