Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat and ex officio member of the Kennedy Center’s board, filed an emergency request in federal court on Thursday seeking to prevent the institution from returning President Trump’s name to the building’s exterior.
The Kennedy Center’s board, which includes Trump-aligned members, voted earlier this month to inscribe the president’s name on the building’s facade alongside the existing designation for President John F. Kennedy. The proposed inscription would read “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump.” If a fundraising goal of $100 million is reached through the Trump Kennedy Center Fund, an additional inscription recognizing that fund would be added. Plans also include renaming the plaza in front of the building to honor Trump. The board’s resolution stated that the Kennedy Center “would be in financial ruin without President Trump’s unique stature as both an unparalleled fundraiser and world-class developer.”
Beatty’s legal team, represented by attorneys Norm Eisen and Nathaniel Zelinsky, characterized the board’s actions as “clear violations” of a prior court order. The case centers on a May ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper, who determined that the Kennedy Center had illegally added Trump’s name to the building and ordered its removal. Institution leaders complied with that order in June but left scaffolding and tarping in place at the location where Trump’s name had been displayed.
The legal question involves the center’s founding status as a living memorial to President Kennedy. Congress designated the performing arts center as such in 1964, the year following Kennedy’s assassination, and established explicit statutory prohibitions against converting it into a memorial to another individual or placing another person’s name on the building’s exterior. The Kennedy Center has indicated it will not engrave Trump’s name on the structure before September 8 to permit legal proceedings to proceed. When questioned about removing the scaffolding this week, Kennedy Center lawyers declined to commit to its removal, instead citing its necessity for ongoing “water testing and structural repairs to the roof overhang.”
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