Democratic Lawmaker Sues to Stop Trump's Name Going Up at the Kennedy Center

Here's the latest chapter in a saga that's been playing out for months: the fight over whether Donald Trump's name should be plastered on the Kennedy Center, D.C.'s premier performing arts venue.

Ohio Rep. Joyce Beatty, a Democrat, is back in court asking a federal judge to stop the Kennedy Center's board of trustees from putting Trump's name up in three separate spots on the building. She filed an emergency motion late Thursday night. This isn't her first move here — Beatty is an ex-officio member of the Kennedy Center board, and she filed her lawsuit against the board and Trump as the organization's chairman last December, challenging the renaming of the institution.

Quick backstory: back in December, the board voted to slap Trump's name onto the building almost overnight, and Beatty sued, arguing the move was illegal. In May, she actually won — a federal judge ordered Trump's name to be removed from the building's facade, ruling that only the US Congress had the power to change what the venue is called. But the board didn't just drop it. Last week, the Kennedy Center's board again attempted to include the president's name on the building, voting 20-3 to inscribe the phrase "restored and renovated by President Donald J Trump" beneath the existing signage, as well as name the plaza in front of the theatre complex after Trump.

Here's what the new plan would actually look like on the building: The signage proposed by the center's board would eventually read: "The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump, Endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund." That last part would only get added if a fundraising campaign hits $100 million. On top of that, the board is seeking to rename the physical grounds of the arts center "President Donald J. Trump Plaza." Add it up and if the board's plan moves forward in full, Trump's name would appear on the entryway sign twice, and would appear on a third location on the grounds.

Beatty's lawyers aren't mincing words. "It's deja vu all over again," Beatty's lawyers wrote to Judge Christopher Cooper in their argument, saying that only Congress can change the name of the center, which by Congressional mandate is a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy, adding: "Now, in a new and breathtaking act of defiance of Congress and of this Court, Defendants have voted to return President Trump's name to the Kennedy Center's facade." Beatty herself put it bluntly in a statement to NPR: "The board's repeated efforts to break the law are a breathtaking act of defiance, but I will continue to stand up against all unlawful acts—enough is enough. The Kennedy Center is a sacred space that belongs to the American people. At every turn, Trump's handpicked Board has flouted court orders and attempted to circumvent the law and the rulings of the judiciary."

Why should you care, even if you've never been to the Kennedy Center? This is really a fight about who gets to decide what happens to a public institution created by federal law — a president, or Congress. It's also become a proxy battle over Trump's broader push to put his name on government buildings and projects. And the arts venue itself has become collateral damage: it's tangled up in multiple lawsuits, ticket sales have reportedly struggled, and a judge already awarded a musician over $250,000 in legal fees after the center sued him for canceling a show over the rebrand controversy.