In light of Donald Trump’s obsession with self-glorification, it wasn’t too surprising when the president’s handpicked allies claimed they had renamed the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts last week. But surprising or not, the absurdity got messy in a hurry.
For one thing, legal considerations came to the fore quickly: Congress created the name for the Kennedy Center, and at no point did lawmakers delegate powers to the center’s board to rename the institution unilaterally.
For another, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed that the Kennedy Center’s board, stacked with Trump loyalists, had “voted unanimously to rename the Kennedy Center to the Trump-Kennedy Center.” As is too often the case, she was apparently not telling the truth.
In fact, Rep. Joyce Beatty did not vote for the change, and as The New York Times reported, the Ohio Democrat filed suit on Monday, hoping to force the removal of the Republican president’s name.
Ms. Beatty’s lawsuit names as defendants Mr. Trump and the loyalists he appointed to the center’s board. The suit contends that the board’s vote to change the name last week was illegal because an act of Congress is required to rename the building.
Ms. Beatty is represented by Norman Eisen, a White House ethics counsel in the Obama administration, along with Nathaniel Zelinsky, his co-counsel of the Washington Litigation Group.
The Times added that, by law, a handful of congressional lawmakers from both parties sit on the Kennedy Center’s board, and Beatty is an ex officio member who tried to participate in Thursday’s board meeting. When she tried to object to the process, the congresswoman found that she had been placed on mute.
Time will tell what becomes of the litigation, but in the meantime, the administration apparently has a new talking point on the burgeoning controversy.
Roma Daravi, a spokesperson for the center, told Deadline Hollywood in a written statement: “This action is in line with the precedent of the State Department adding President Trump’s name to the Institute of Peace. And the previous Administration renaming military bases.”
This is a curious argument, in part because changing the name of the Institute of Peace constituted its own controversy, and in part because the Biden administration renamed military bases after bipartisan legislation was approved by Congress, leading to a federal law that the White House honored.
Indeed, Daravi’s argument proves the opposite of the intended point: Biden and his team followed a law approved by Congress; Trump and his team ignored a law approved by Congress. It’s why the latter is controversial and the subject of litigation, while the former is not.
Beatty’s lawsuit was filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Watch this space.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.
