Days after the Trump-appointed Kennedy Center board’s decision to add the current president’s name to the art hall, a U.S. Democratic representative has filed a lawsuit to restore the name.
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According to legal documents, Joyce Beatty (D-OH) filed the lawsuit on Monday. She serves as an ex officio member of the board and is arguing that the building’s name change is illegal. She points out that an act of Congress is required to effect the name change.
“This is a flagrant violation of the rule of law, and it flies in the face of our constitutional order,” Beatty explained. “Congress intended the Center to be a living memorial to President Kennedy — and a crown jewel of the arts for all Americans, irrespective of party. Unless and until this Court intervenes, Defendants will continue to defy Congress and thwart the law for improper ends,” the lawsuit states.”
The White House claimed last week that the Kennedy Center board voted ‘unanimously” to rename the establishment to the “Trump-Kennedy Center.” Following the decision, crews added Trump’s name to the establishment.
The U.S. Rep Said She Was Silenced During the Vote to Change the Kennedy Center’s Name
Despite the White House stating the vote was unanimous, Beatty claimed she was muted on the call during the vote. She was unable to voice her opposition.
“I said, ‘I have something to say,’ and I was muted,” Beatty told reporters. “And as I continued to try to unmute, to ask questions and voice my opposition to this, I received a note saying that I would not be unmuted.”
She further stated, “I was not allowed to vote because I was muted. I would not have supported this.”
In a statement, Beatty’s attorneys Norman Eisen and Nathaniel Zelinsky spoke out against the name change. “The President and his sycophants have no lawful authority to rename the Kennedy Center,” they pointed out.
The White House responded to the lawsuit by stating that President Trump has saved the Kennedy Center.
He also stated last week, “We’re saving the building. We saved the building. The building was in such bad shape—physically, financially, in every other way. And now it’s very solid and very strong.”