Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, filed an emergency motion Thursday night to prevent the name of President Donald Trump from being added to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The filing initiates a new legal challenge concerning the Washington, D.C. venue.
Beatty, an ex officio member of the center's board of trustees, submitted the motion following a board vote last week to rename the area surrounding the center the "President Donald J. Trump Plaza." The board also voted to reinstate Trump's name on the building's facade, reversing a decision made in response to a federal judge's order in May that had the name removed.
Under the board's plan, Trump's name would appear next to the main entrance if the renovation fund receives $100 million in donations. The building's designation would then become "The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump."
The center had been known as the "Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts" since early 2025, shortly after Trump assumed office. This designation followed a period where he sought to replace the institution's leadership and appoint himself chairman.
Trump's name was removed from the facade in June after DC US District Judge Christopher Cooper issued an order that also halted a planned two-year renovation closure. The board informed the court of its intention to re-add Trump's name as early as September 8 in a status report filed this week.
Beatty's motion seeks a temporary block on the name change while Judge Cooper considers whether the board's recent actions contravene his May ruling. The congresswoman's filing contends that Cooper's order to keep Trump's name off the building can only be superseded by an act of Congress, not by altering the nature of the president's acknowledgment.
Federal legislation passed in 1964 by Congress established the National Cultural Center on the Potomac River and renamed it in honor of Kennedy, who was assassinated the year prior. The center opened its doors in 1971. That legislation explicitly prohibits the board from transforming the center into a memorial for any other individual or affixing another person's name to the building's exterior.