Ex-Kennedy Center officio board member files order to keep Trump’s name off
Rep. joyce Beatty (D-OH) filed an emergency motion to oppose the trump administration’s plans to alter the signage and naming of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The administration proposed incorporating Trump’s name into the center’s signage and grounds, including calling it “The President Donald J. Trump Plaza” and later “The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, renovated and restored by President Donald J. Trump, endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund,” after reaching a $100 million endowment. The Kennedy Center’s Board of Trustees announced these plans to the court but also stated they would honor Trump’s contributions by calling the facility the renamed titles.
Beatty argues these actions violate the Kennedy center statute, which mandates the center be named solely after President Kennedy. She is seeking a temporary stay and permanent injunction against the name changes. The center’s board also voted to close for two years for renovations, prompting additional legal challenges from Beatty, who criticizes the process as rushed and lacking proper decision-making procedures. The court proceedings are ongoing, with the future of the center’s plans uncertain as the facility prepares for the upcoming fall season.
Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH) filed another emergency motion regarding the Trump administration’s proposed signage on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts overnight, arguing their new plan crosses a boundary as well.
In a series of back-to-back overnight filings, representatives for the Kennedy Center told the court that they would not be renaming the performing arts center the Trump-Kennedy Center, but would instead incorporate President Donald Trump’s name in several other ways. Beatty still took issue with the center’s plan and filed a subsequent emergency motion to halt the administration’s plans for the building’s facade.
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On Thursday evening, the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees told the federal district court in Washington, D.C., that they would be honoring Trump and his contributions to the center’s reconstruction by calling the facility “The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, renovated and restored by President Donald J. Trump.” They also said after the Trump Kennedy Center Fund reaches a $100 million endowment to the facility, they will call it “The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, renovated and restored by President Donald J. Trump, endowed by The Trump Kennedy Center Fund.”
The center also told the court they would be calling the currently unnamed grounds where the facility is the “President Donald J. Trump Plaza.”
Beatty, an ex officio member of the board, has challenged the Trump administration in court over each step of its plans to change the facility’s name and to close the center for renovations. Her lawyers swiftly followed the center’s notification to the court on Thursday with a filing of their own challenging the new plans for the building’s facade.
“These actions are clear violations of the Kennedy Center statute as interpreted by the Court in its May 29, 2026, decision, in which the Court held that ‘the Center is to be named for President Kennedy, and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board’s unilateral say-so,’” Beatty’s lawyers wrote in the filing.
Beatty asked for a temporary stay and permanent injunction on the center’s plans to rename the facility and its grounds.
Vice President of the Kennedy Center’s Board Relations and Government Affairs Joseph LaFauci wrote to the court that the above plan for the name is what the board decided on at its Aug. 13 meeting.
In that same board meeting, Kennedy Center board officials voted to move forward with closing the facility for two years to undergo a massive structural construction project. Obama-appointed U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper had told the center earlier in the year that they could not move forward with the closure because they had “fallen grossly short of prudent decision-making” in its first closure vote, but he did not rule out the possibility of a closure with the proper forethought.
In an August 18 status update, the Center’s board told the court that they incorporated a presentation from “an independent analyst from the Delta Consulting Group” to share the facility’s renovation options in their Aug. 13 meeting. The Trump administration said in its status update that the board then voted again to close for two years “after receiving this information and engaging in discussion about the proper course.”
However, Beatty still took issue with the board’s process, calling it rushed and saying they only used “a vague, two-page PowerPoint” in their presentation ahead of the vote.
KENNEDY CENTER BOARD VOTES TO CLOSE FACILITY FOR TWO YEARS FOR CONSTRUCTION
As the parties await court action on Beatty’s emergency order, the legal status of plans for the center’s future remains in flux as the facility heads into its fall season.
The Washington Examiner has reached out to the Kennedy Center for comment on Beatty’s motion.
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