A Democrat member of Congress filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to block the Trump administration from renaming the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
The administration wants to rename it the "Trump-Kennedy Center."
Rep. Joyce Beatty, a Democrat from Ohio and an ex officio trustee of the Kennedy Center, brought the suit after a recent vote by the center's board of trustees to add President Donald Trump's name to the venue.
Beatty argued that the board exceeded the authority Congress granted it. "Because Congress named the center by statute, changing the Kennedy Center's name requires an act of Congress," the filing states, calling the board's vote a "flagrant violation of the rule of law."
The lawsuit describes the virtual board meeting at which the vote took place as a "thinly veiled sham," citing Beatty's allegation that she and others who opposed the change were prevented from unmuting themselves.
Beatty reiterated a claim she made on social media that she was muted on Zoom during last week's board meeting when she attempted to object.
In the lawsuit, she said the vote and the placement of Trump's name on the building the next day reminded her more of authoritarian regimes than of the American republic.
The renaming effort drew ire from members of the Kennedy family almost immediately.
Kerry Kennedy, the daughter of former Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, blasted the administration's decision, threatening to "grab a pickax" to remove Trump's name from the building.
"Three years and one month from today, I'm going to grab a pickax and pull those letters off that building, but I'm going to need help holding the ladder," she wrote on X last week.
Trump has also drawn criticism from Democrats for seeking to cement his legacy through naming initiatives. In addition to the Kennedy Center, Trump said he would name a new class of warships after himself.
On Monday, Navy Secretary John Phelan referred to the latest nuclear-capable vessels as "Trump-class battleships," with the first set to be named the USS Defiant.
James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.
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