President Trump’s desire to have his name on everything, preferably in gold, is well-known, and at first we thought the addition of his name to the John F. Kennedy center for the arts in Washington, D.C., was ignorable as familiar Trumpian news.
But there is the matter of the law.
Under 20 U.S.C. § 76i(a), Congress in 1964 established the Kennedy Center as “a building to be designated as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.”
The title of the building isn’t a casual naming of the kind that happens when philanthropists donate to a museum and are honored with a wing named after them. The name is enshrined in statute as a memorial to the assassinated President.
The Kennedy Center’s board of trustees was also created by statute, in 20 U.S.C. § 76 (j), which enumerates the responsibility of the officers, including to present music, opera, drama and dance, to contribute to performing arts education and to provide “facilities for other civic activities.”
The board is also tasked with ensuring the facility received “necessary maintenance” and had “safe and convenient access” for pedestrians.
Notably absent from this list is the power to rename the Kennedy Center or augment the name by adding Mr. Trump alongside.
Further memorials are explicitly banned by the statute, which instructs the board to “assure that after December 2, 1983, no additional memorials or plaques in the nature of memorials shall be designated or installed in the public areas of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.”
Mr. Trump appointed the current board members earlier this year, including Second Lady Usha Vance, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Trump Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino. The Board elected Mr. Trump chairman.
The President had referred to the center offhand as the “Trump Kennedy Center,” but after the name change he said he was “surprised” and “honored by it.” We’re willing to bet he had at least an inkling this could happen.
The power to change the Kennedy Center marquee resides with Congress, which has authority to “make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States.”
But Republicans in Congress have been more concerned with glazing Mr. Trump than with defending their own constitutional authority.
The Trump-Kennedy Center rebranding is a small matter among the other issues of the day.
But like Mr. Trump’s decision to ignore Congress’s clear order to shut down TikTok if it isn’t divested of Chinese ownership, this is one more blow to respect for the law.
