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    Federal lawsuit over (Trump) Kennedy Center board highlights ex officio voting

    Posted by michaelwyland on March 15, 2026 at 11:38 am

    I know this is a governance issue, but the judge’s decision references how the Kennedy Center filled out its IRS Form 990, which most people think of as both “financial” and a “tax return.”

    I posted about this on LinkedIn yesterday, based on the following report on The Hill’s website:

    Judge rules Kennedy Center must allow Dem lawmaker to attend board meeting
    https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5784288-judge-rules-kennedy-center-beatty/

    My LinkedIn post may be accessed here:

    KENNEDY CENTER EX-OFFICIO TRUSTEE’S LAWSUIT HIGHLIGHTS NEED FOR BY-LAWS SPECIFICS ON NONPROFIT BOARD VOTING RIGHTS

    https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7438685932150542336/?originTrackingId=YdXm9PmQcrlb8bsLnd0LYA%3D%3D

    Form 990, Part VI, Question 1 requires filers to notify the IRS if any governing board members have differing voting rights, or if significant governance authority is delegated to another body, such as an executive committee. If this is true, the filer is directed to explain in Schedule O. How many 990s follow this instruction, do you think?

    One amusing part of this story is that the Congresswoman and ex-officio Kennedy Center board member filed her lawsuit based on her allegedly not being sent notice of a special board meeting scheduled for Monday 3/16/26. Subsequent review of her emails revealed that she had indeed received the same notice at the same time that all other board members received it, but her copy had ended up in her spam folder and she didn’t see it before her attorney filed the lawsuit.

    michaelwyland replied 7 hours, 4 minutes ago 1 Member · 0 Replies
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