Kennedy Center Board Member Asks Judge to Reverse Trump’s Name Change

By Kory Grow

Kory Grow

Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, a Democrat who represents Ohio, filed a motion on Wednesday requesting a federal judge to remove President Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center and halt his plan to close the institution for two years. Beatty, an ex-officio Kennedy Center board member, submitted the paperwork, which Rolling Stone has reviewed, via her legal representatives Democracy Defenders Action and the Washington Litigation Group to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

“Can the Board of the Kennedy Center — in direct contradiction of the governing statutes — rename this sacred memorial to John F. Kennedy after President Donald J. Trump?” the memorandum’s introduction posts. “The answer is, unequivocally, ‘no.’ By renaming the Center — in violation of the law — Defendants [Donald J. Trump, et al] have breached the terms of the trust and their most basic fiduciary obligations as trustees.”

Beatty alleges that Trump treated the board as a “rubberstamp” — an expected cosign of his policies — and pushed through a motion to add his name to the institution illegally. “Congress [in 1964] was clear: The Kennedy Center is named for ‘John F. Kennedy,’ and no one else,” the filing contends. “The Board’s decision to rename the Kennedy Center after President Trump is manifestly unlawful.”

Moreover, Congress previously prohibited name changes to the institution. “In the provision outlining the Board’s duties, Congress stated that, starting December 2, 1983, the trustees ‘shall assure that’ ‘no additional memorials or plaques in the nature of memorials shall be designated or installed in the public areas of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.'”

Among other requests, Beatty would like a permanent injunction that would stop the name change. Beatty notes that Trump’s “renaming is directly linked to artists canceling performances, undermining [the institution’s] ability to maintain the Center as a performing arts space and living memorial to President Kennedy.”

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Artists including Philip Glass, Béla Fleck, and Renee Fleming, a production of Hamilton,and the Washington National Opera all canceled previously announced concerts at the Kennedy Center.

In a related filing, Beatty said that closing the Kennedy Center in July, as Trump has proposed, would “violate” the board’s duty to maintain the institution as a memorial to President Kennedy. “Turning the Kennedy Center into a lifeless husk for two years would also constitute a fundamental breach of Defendants’ most basic fiduciary obligations as trustees,” it says.

She alleges that Trump and his cronies on the board “rushed” to close the Kennedy Center without conducting independent analysis, and that the February announcement it would be close after “an extensive ‘one-year review'” was a lie. Instead, they relied on “four reports commissioned and delivered under prior Kennedy Center management in 2021, 2022, and 2024.” Beatty believes that the decision to close the Center was in response to musicians canceling performances there after Trump’s name was added.

Also at issue is the proposed closing in July. “It will likely take 12 months of further design, permitting, and procurement work before Defendants could begin responsible construction work,” the filing says. “There is no reason to close the Kennedy Center soon — and violate the Board’s obligations to maintain the Center as a living memorial — well before Defendants could even start responsible construction. The purpose of closure without that kind of preparation can only be an unlawful demolition-first-ask-questions-later approach that President Trump disastrously adopted with the East Wing of the White House — destroying protected buildings before anyone can stop him.” Moreover, Trump admitted at a board meeting that he’d already prematurely announced the closure before the board could vote.

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“Donald Trump‘s attempt to rename the Kennedy Center after himself is not just an act of ego,” Beatty said in a statement. “It is an attempt to subvert our Constitution and the rule of law. Congress established the Kennedy Center by law, and only Congress can change its name. The Kennedy Center is a national institution with a long tradition of bipartisan support. It is not an opportunity for President Trump to expand his personal brand. We will not let this stand.”

“We’re confident the court will uphold the board’s decision on the name change and the desperately needed renovations which will continue as scheduled,” Roma Daravi, vice president of PR at the Kennedy Center, said in a statement.

“The Kennedy Memorial is not impacted at all by the recent name change,” an official from the Trump Kennedy Center said. “It remains the living memorial to President John F. Kennedy.”

Representatives for the White House did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone’s request for comment in relation to the lawsuit.

Beatty has filed several lawsuits related to the Kennedy Center. Her first, in December, was an attempt to stop Trump from adding his name to the institution. Earlier in March, she filed another trying to stop the two-year closure, and on March 16, the District Court issued a temporary restraining order that would allow her to receive documents about the shutdown and let her vote in a board meeting that day. (“Despite her claims in court, Congresswoman Beatty was invited to the board meeting,” Daravi said.)

Beatty was blocked from attending board meetings, according to The Hollywood Reporter. She attended the March 16 meeting but was not able to vote. A source who was in the room claims to Rolling Stone that Beatty “spoke for three minutes on the record, noting her complete and total support of the federal funds and the need for deferred maintenance renovations.”

Attorneys for Beatty did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone’s request for comment on statements from Kennedy Center officials.

In other Kennedy Center news, on Thursday it was announced that Bill Maher will receive the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at a gala performance on June 28, despite reports that the White House has previously denied he would win it. An administration official tells Rolling Stone, “This was false reporting at the time of The Atlantic’s reporting, but the situation changed after further conversations took place between the Trump-Kennedy Center and event organizers over the past week.”

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