Central Ohio Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, a Democrat, filed a lawsuit in Federal Court Tuesday against the Trump administration to stop the name change of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to the "The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts."
Beatty is an ex officio trustee, a member of the board who is appointed based on another position they already hold. For Beatty, she is one of the three additional Members of the House of Representatives appointed by the Speaker of the House. Ex officio trustees have the same voting rights for the board as other presidentially-appointed members.
In the complaint, Beatty alleges the board meeting where the vote was held to change the name of the center was a “thinly-veiled sham.” The meeting was held at the home of one of the members appointed by President Trump, which Beatty attended remotely. The complaint also alleges that no prior notice of the vote was given.
Beatty claims she was muted when she spoke up in opposition of the vote and was not allowed to cast her vote.
Later, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed on social media that the board had “voted unanimously to rename the Kennedy Center to the Trump-Kennedy Center.” The following day, workers installed new signage to reflect the name change.
The complaint also states that the board does not have the power to change the name of the center, as the name was designated by an act of Congress which created the center. Any name change, the complaint says, could only be enacted by an act of Congress.
Additionally, the statute was amended in 1983 to prohibit “additional memorials or plaques in the nature of memorials” in public areas of the Kennedy Center.
Democrat ex officio trustees of the board released a joint statement on Dec. 18 condemning the board's actions.
“Beyond using the Kennedy Center to reward his friends and political allies, President Trump is now attempting to affix his name to yet another public institution without legal authority,” the statement read. “This whole process displays the corruption that permeates the entire Trump Administration, and as ex-officio members of the Kennedy Center Board, we will be unwavering in our commitment to holding this Administration accountable.”
