Democratic Rep Challenges ‘Illegal Renaming’ of Kennedy Center

Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) is challenging the “illegal renaming” of the Kennedy Center to include President Donald Trump’s moniker. Beatty, who sits on the Kennedy Center Board, filed a lawsuit Monday against Trump and…

Sandra RhodesDec 23, 20253 min read

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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) were not part of the meeting and opposed the move later in media interviews.

Norm Eisen announced Monday Democracy Defenders Action and the Washington Litigation Group were representing Beatty in the lawsuit.

He added to the lawsuit the “staunch loyalists who will do his bidding, including his own White House Chief of Staff, multiple Fox News personalities, and the spouses of his Vice President and Secretary of Commerce” he appointed to the Kennedy Center board, for the “illegal renaming” of the Center.

The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

The crux of the lawsuit is that the Kennedy Center was established and named per a 1964 law passed by Congress and signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated two months before the law was signed.

“Only Congress has the authority to rename the Kennedy Center,” Beatty said in a press release. “President Trump and his cronies must not be allowed to trample federal law and bypass Congress to feed his ego. This entire process has been a complete disgrace to this cherished institution and the people it serves. These unlawful actions must be blocked before any further damage is done.”

“The President and his sycophants have no lawful authority to rename the Kennedy Center,” said Eisen and Nathaniel Zelinsky, Senior Counsel at Washington Litigation Group. “Congress named the Kennedy Center as a national memorial to President Kennedy, and only Congress can change that. We are proud to represent Congresswoman Beatty as she defends the integrity of this institution and the separation of powers.”