Rep. Joyce Beatty of Ohio is asking a federal judge to force the Kennedy Center to block and reverse efforts to attach President Donald Trump’s name to the historic performing arts venue. In a motion filed Wednesday, Beatty argues that Congress was clear in its intent that the Kennedy Center is named for the late President John F. Kennedy — and no one else.
Trump’s handpicked board of directors voted in December to rename the venue as the Trump-Kennedy Center, arguing the Republican president deserved the recognition for his efforts to renovate the institution, which was named for the Democratic president assassinated in 1963.
Beatty’s motion argues that lawmakers have made clear at various points throughout the Kennedy Center’s history that no other name should appear on the building. According to the motion, “Congress was particularly sensitive that no other names appear on the Center’s exterior walls, other than the signage designating the institution as a memorial for President Kennedy.”
A day after the board’s December decision, Trump’s name was added to the Kennedy Center’s facade, an iconic part of Washington’s cityscape that rests on the banks of the Potomac River. The name change has also been reflected on the Kennedy Center’s website and social media channels.
Beatty’s lawyers, Norm Eisen and Nathaniel Zelinsky, said in a statement, “We are asking the court to enforce the law and reverse this illegal renaming. This abuse of power is an attack on the rule of law and the memory of John Kennedy and cannot stand.”
The Kennedy Center, a central part of the capital’s arts scene since it opened in 1971, is being closed by Trump this summer for a renovation that’s expected to last for about two years. A coalition of eight cultural and historic preservation groups is also suing to block further physical changes to the Kennedy Center.