A member of the Kennedy Center board has sued President Donald Trump to force the removal of his name from the performing arts venue’s facade.
Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty, 75, an ex officio trustee, filed the complaint on Monday in federal court against Trump, 79, and a slate of devotees he installed after reshaping the institution’s board earlier this year.
The suit argues that the board’s Dec. 18 vote to rebrand the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts was void because only Congress, not the trustees, can change the building’s name in statute.
In a statement from the Washington Litigation Group announcing the filing, Beatty said: “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.”
Beatty is represented by Norman Eisen, 65, who said the name change “violates the Constitution and the rule of law because Congress said this is the name. [Trump] doesn’t have a right to change the name.”
The filing paints the Dec. 18 meeting as a choreographed exercise designed to manufacture a foregone outcome. Beatty says trustees met at the home of Andrea Wynn, a Trump-aligned donor installed on the board, and that the agenda gave no warning that a renaming would be raised.
When the moment arrived, Beatty says she began to speak, identified herself, and flagged concerns—then was muted and repeatedly prevented from unmuting, including through written notices stating she would not be allowed back into the discussion. The suit claims trustees then declared the vote “unanimous.”
The speed of the rebrand is also questioned in the court filing. The day after the meeting, on Dec. 19, workers installed a prominent new inscription on the front portico reading “The Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts,” while the website and emails switched to “The Trump Kennedy Center.”
“This is just another attempt to evade the law and not let the people have a say,” Beatty said last Friday.
Aside from Trump, the suit’s named defendants include the Trump-appointed Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Education Secretary Linda McMahon, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, her deputy Dan Scavino, Speaker Mike Johnson, Second Lady Usha Vance, and around two dozen other people, including Fox News host Laura Ingraham.
Beatty’s case is structured as a trustee fight and argues the board is bound by “the usual powers and obligations of a trustee,” and that renaming the building violates the trust’s governing terms because Congress designated the Center as a living memorial and—by statute—the “sole national memorial” to JFK within Washington and its environs.
The complaint also cites federal limits on adding new memorials or plaques in public areas after 1983, plus a separate restriction on acknowledging private donors on the exterior of a 2012 project—language the lawsuit uses to frame the Trump signage as expressly out of bounds.
It asks the court to declare the renaming unlawful, order the removal of Trump branding from the building and from official channels, and—at a minimum—require a meeting at which Beatty is allowed to participate.
The suit comes amid a broader political fight over Trump’s takeover of the venue’s leadership. Trump named Grenell interim executive director in February after purging trustees and installing allies.
The fallout from Trump’s decision to rename the venue has seen the Kennedy family object, and Kennedy’s niece vow to yank the letters off. One artist pulled a show in protest.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and the Kennedy Center for comment.
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