John Joyce

WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty is claiming victory after a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to remove President Donald Trump’s name from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in response to a lawsuit she filed.

“The Kennedy Center belongs to the American people and not to Donald Trump,” the Columbus Democrat said in a weekend MS Now appearance to discuss her successful lawsuit to stop the iconic performing arts venue’s renaming and planned closure.

“Silence was not an option, and the Kennedy Center is a sacred memorial, it’s not a vanity project for Donald Trump,” she told MS Now’s Al Sharpton.

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled Friday that a board of Kennedy Center trustees dominated by Trump appointees lacked authority to rename the facility. The Kennedy Center was established by Congress in 1964 as the sole national memorial to President John F. Kennedy in Washington and its environs. Cooper upheld Beatty’s stance that only Congress could change its name.

“Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it,” Cooper’s ruling said.

Cooper ordered the administration to remove all physical signage bearing Trump’s name from the building within 14 days, remove references to the “Trump Kennedy Center” from the center’s website, withdraw any related trademark applications and file a sworn declaration of compliance with the court. He also blocked the planned two-year closure of the center that Trump had announced in February.

A Kennedy Center spokesperson said the board will appeal Cooper’s decision.

Trump remade the Kennedy Center’s board early in his second term, replacing Biden appointees with allies including White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, adviser Dan Scavino and Usha Vance, wife of vice president JD Vance. The board voted in December 2025 to rename the center, and the new letters were affixed to the building’s marble facade within a day. The renaming and planned closure had already taken a toll on the institution, with performers pulling out and some donors and audience members staying away.

Beatty, who serves as an ex-officio member of the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees by virtue of her seat in Congress, told Sharpton she expects the administration will comply with the order.

Beatty said she also won a previous lawsuit filed after her microphone was muted during the board vote to rename the center, which the White House said was unanimous.

Trump responded to Friday’s ruling with a lengthy post on Truth Social, attacking Cooper and announcing he would transfer control of the center to Congress.

“Based on the fact that the Radical Left Democrats care more about opposing your favorite President, ME, than saving a dying Performing Arts Center,” Trump wrote, “we are going to be working with Congress to transfer this failing Institution back to them so they can make a determination as to what to do with it.”

Beatty described Trump as “very angry” over the decision, but told Sharpton “he’s not any more angry than I was at him not respecting the Congress, the rule of law.”

She predicted the damage to the Kennedy Center’s brand won’t last.

“I think people are going to be excited,” she said. “I think we will see our donors coming back. I think performers will be coming back, because this is a win for the American people. It’s a win for the arts, and it’s a win for the rule of law.”