Democratic US Representative Joyce Beatty has filed a lawsuit seeking to remove President Donald Trump's name from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Last week, the board of the Kennedy Center - which Trump filled with allies - voted to rename the performing arts center the Trump-Kennedy Center.
Beatty is one of several Democratic lawmakers designated as members of the board by US law. She claimed in her lawsuit that the renaming was illegal because changing the name requires an act of Congress.
The suit states that Beatty had called into the meeting about the name change but was muted when she tried to voice her opposition.
Beatty argues that Congress intended for the center to be a living memorial to former President Kennedy.
[I]n scenes more reminiscent of authoritarian regimes than the American republic – the sitting President and his handpicked loyalists renamed this storied center after President Trump, the lawsuit asserts.
In a statement provided to the BBC, the White House said Trump had stepped up and saved the Kennedy Center by strengthening its finances, modernizing the building, and ending divisive woke programming.
As a result, the Board of the Kennedy Center voted unanimously to rename it the Trump-Kennedy Center — a historic move that marks a new era of success, prestige, and restored grandeur for one of America's most iconic cultural institutions.
On Friday, the president's name was added to the exterior of the building, and the center's website logo now reads The Trump Kennedy Center.
The name change has been met with harsh criticism, particularly in Washington DC where the center has been an iconic landmark since it was built and named for Kennedy.
Construction began on the performing arts center in the 1950s, and after Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, Congress decided to name it after him.
Shortly after taking office, Trump fired a slew of the center's board members and replaced them with allies, who then voted to make him chairman of the board. His close adviser Richard Grenell became board president.
The center's board of trustees includes 34 members appointed by Trump and 23 others designated by US law, according to the center's website.
Trump also secured about $257m (£190m) in congressional funding to pay for significant renovations and other costs at the venue, which he said was in bad shape.
Several members of the Kennedy family expressed outrage over the name change on social media.
Joe Kennedy III, a former House member and grandnephew of the late president, remarked that the Kennedy Center is a living memorial to a fallen president and named for President Kennedy by federal law. He added, It can no sooner be renamed than can someone rename the Lincoln Memorial, no matter what anyone says.
