Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty sues to remove Trump's name from Kennedy Center
House Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty sued President Donald Trump on Monday -- hoping to force the removal of his name from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
The lawsuit from the congresswoman, who serves an ex-officio member of the board, argues that the board’s vote to rename the building was illegal because an act of Congress is required for such an action.
"This is a flagrant violation of the rule of law, and it flies in the face of our constitutional order. 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.
Asked for comment on the lawsuit, White House spokesperson Liz Huston instead told ABC News in a statement that the Kennedy Center's board voted to rename it after Trump "stepped up and saved the old Kennedy Center ..."
The White House announced last week that the board at the Kennedy Center, which Trump now chairs and is filled with his appointees, voted "unanimously" to rename the building the "Trump-Kennedy Center" -- with workers adding Trump’s name to the facade of the building the next day.
Beatty, however, said she was muted on the call during the vote and could not voice her opposition to the name change.
Beatty told reporters last week that she tried to speak up to oppose the name change.
"I said, 'I have something to say,' and I was muted, 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," Beatty said to reporters. "I was not allowed to vote because I was muted. I would not have supported this."
Beatty is represented by Norman Eisen, a White House ethics counsel in the Obama administration, and Nathaniel Zelinsky, co-counsel of the Washington Litigation Group.
"The President and his sycophants have no lawful authority to rename the Kennedy Center," the two wrote in a statement.
Last week, Trump said his administration "saved" the historic arts and culture center.
"We're saving the building. We saved the building. The building was in such bad shape -- physically, financially, in every other way," he said. "And now it's very solid and very strong."
