Rep. Joyce Beatty Asks a Federal Court to Stop the Kennedy Center From Putting Trump's Name Back on the Building

Rep. Joyce Beatty filed an emergency request on Aug. 20 asking a federal court to block the Kennedy Center from returning President Trump's name to the building. The center's Trump-aligned board voted earlier this month to inscribe the facade so it would read "The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump." The plaza would also be renamed for Trump. Beatty's lawyers wrote that the board's actions amounted to "clear violations" of an earlier court order.

Congress designated the center in 1964 as a living memorial to President Kennedy, and the statute expressly bars the board from making it a memorial to anyone else or placing another name on the exterior. The filing frames the vote not as a naming dispute but as a test of whether a federally chartered board may act against a statute and a standing court order.

Judge Christopher Cooper ruled in May that the addition of Trump's name was unlawful and ordered it removed; the center complied in June but left tarp and scaffolding in place. It has said it will not engrave the name before Sept. 8. A representative did not comment.