The Kennedy Center Board’s Latest Vote to Shut Down the Institution is Unlawful
August 13, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees flouted a court order preventing the institution from being unlawfully renamed after President Donald Trump, and once again voted to shut down the Kennedy Center — only months after a federal court blocked the board’s earlier efforts to do the same things.
In its meeting today, the board voted to change the front of the building’s facade to read “The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump” and renamed the physical site “The President Donald J. Trump Plaza.” This latest development comes just two months after Judge Cooper ruled that the board unlawfully added President Trump’s name above John F. Kennedy’s and ordered the removal of Trump’s name. The board’s decision appears to directly flout the Kennedy Center’s statute, which expressly prohibits erecting “memorials or plaques in the nature of memorials” with few, very limited exceptions.
The board also voted to close the Kennedy Center for two years after its members received their meeting packet just two days beforehand. Those packets consisted almost entirely of plans that assumed the Center would close without disclosure of what the consulting firm that recommended closure was asked to study, what materials it reviewed or whether it has any arts-management expertise.
In response, Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH-03) and her counsel, Amb. Norm Eisen (ret.), co-founder and board member of Democracy Defenders Action, and Nathaniel Zelinsky, principal and managing counsel at Washington Litigation Group, issued the following statements:
“This morning’s decision to close the Center and the surprise agenda item to put Donald Trump’s name back on the building was more of the same,” said Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH-03). “This latest development is a transparent effort to circumvent the court’s ruling, and flies in the face of the statutes that Congress passed. I will continue to fight for this treasured national monument.”
“A federal judge already rejected the board’s unlawful attempt to rename the Kennedy Center, and told Donald Trump’s handpicked board that its last closure vote was ill-informed and preordained. Today’s vote is more of the same, and a show of blatant disrespect to the courts,” said Amb. Norm Eisen (ret.) of Democracy Defenders Action, and Nathaniel Zelinsky of Washington Litigation Group. “The court already ruled against the board when it bowed to Trump’s demands. Now, the defendants must answer for their actions — again — in court.”
More information about Beatty v. Trump can be found here.
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Democracy Defenders Action brings together a nonpartisan team to work with national, state, and local allies across the country to defend in real time the foundations of our democracy.
The Washington Litigation Group is a nonpartisan team of attorneys dedicated to defending individuals and institutions that have been unlawfully targeted for exercising their legal rights and to fighting against governmental overreach.
For media inquiries, contact, press@democracydefenders.org.
