A congresswoman who is an ex officio member of the Kennedy Center board sued other trustees on Monday, seeking a court ruling to force them to remove Donald Trump from the name of the arts instituion.
Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH) filed the lawsuit on Monday in federal court in Washington, D.C., seeking a declaration that the name of the arts institution is the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and that a board vote last week to change the name is null and void.
“Because Congress named the center by statute, changing the Kennedy Center’s name requires an act of Congress,” Beatty’s lawsuit stated. “But on December 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. Congress intended the Center to be a living memorial to President Kennedy—and a crown jewel of the arts for all Americans, irrespective of party. Unless and until this Court intervenes, Defendants will continue to defy Congress and thwart the law for improper ends.”
The Trump controlled board voted to rename the center on Thursday. The next day, workers added Trump’s name to the facade of the complex, so it reads “The Donald Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”
The lawsuit named Trump, who is chairman of the Kennedy Center, as well as its president, Ric Grenell, and the members of the board, along with the institution itself. Also named are other ex officio members, including Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert Kennedy Jr., House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
The lawsuit cited breach of trustees obligations under federal law and violation of plaintiff’s rights under federal law, among other claims.
Beatty also is seeking an order that “any and all physical and digital signage purporting torename the Kennedy Center after Defendant Trump, including the signage on the building’sfront portico and the website.”
The center did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Beatty’s lawsuit.
President Lyndon Johnson signed a law in 1964 designating the National Cultural Center as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. After the Trump-controlled board voted, Democrats and members of the Kennedy family quickly cried foul.
The lawsuit called the board vote a “sham.”
“The conduct in the Board meeting itself confirmed that the meeting was a sham, orchestrated by Defendant Trump and his loyalists as a pretext for a predetermined result,” Beatty’s lawsuit stated. “There was no advance notice in the agenda that the Board would be considering a name change. The meeting was held at the home of Andrea Wynn, the wife of a casino mogul and Republican donor, whom Defendant Trump installed on the Board. At the end of the meeting, Defendant Trump’s loyalists abruptly announced that they had news they would like to share: the Kennedy Center would now be renamed after Donald Trump.”
Beatty was on the board meeting call, but was blocked from expressing her concerns because she was put on mute, according to the lawsuit. A spokesperson for the Kennedy Center later said that ex officio members do not have a vote, something codified in the center’s bylaws.
But Beatty’s lawsuit contended that the “law does not distinguish between the ex officio trustees and general trustees, and the former possess the same rights and responsibilities as the latter.”
Roma Daravi, spokeswoman for the center, defended the board’s authority to change the name. “This action is in line with the precedent of the State Department adding President Trump’s name to the Institute of Peace. And the previous Administration renaming military bases,” she said in a statement last week. Yet the effort to strip military bases of Confederate names was authorized by an act of Congress in 2021, something that critics of the Kennedy Center renaming say is required.
The lawsuit also contended that the “purported name change will impose financial and operational harms on this already struggling institution by alienating ticket holders, donors, and artists.” The lawsuit noted that after the name change, musician Kristy Lee announced that she was canceling her Jan. 14, 2026 performance. “On information and belief, ticket holders have canceled their tickets in protest of Defendants’ unlawful actions and demanded refunds. There is every reason to expect this trend will continue, with associated financial and reputational harms,” the lawsuit stated.
Beatty is represented by Norman Eisen, founder of Democracy Defenders Action, and Nathaniel Zelinsky, senior counsel at Washington Litigation Group.
