05/30/2026
BREAKING: Rep. Joyce Beatty takes Trump to court over the Kennedy Center and wins
If you stand with Joyce Beatty, you're our kind of person. Join our community. Rep. Joyce Beatty sued Donald Trump over his illegal renaming of the Kennedy Center, and a federal judge just ruled in her favor, ordering Trump's name removed from the historic venue within 14 days.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that the Kennedy Center cannot be renamed without an act of Congress, delivering a stinging rebuke to an administration that has repeatedly tried to reshape federal institutions through sheer executive will.
"The Kennedy Center's organic statute makes crystal clear that the Center is to be named for President Kennedy, and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board's unilateral say-so," Cooper wrote. "Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it."
Beatty, an Ohio Democrat and Kennedy Center board member, launched the lawsuit in December after being muted and blocked from speaking during a virtual board meeting where Trump allies voted to rename the center over her objection. She refused to let it go, and the courts backed her up.
"The Kennedy Center is an institution that belongs to the American people, not to Donald Trump," Beatty said after the ruling. "He has desecrated this sacred memorial for his own vanity. I am proud to have fought for the rule of law and to protect this sacred institution."
The administration now has two weeks to tear down all signage and eliminate every reference to a "Trump Kennedy Center" from official materials.
