Representative Joyce Beatty, a Democrat from Ohio, faced some criticism after filing a lawsuit against President Donald Trump and the Kennedy Center board.
Beatty alleged she was left out of a meeting on March 16 where key renovation plans for the Kennedy Center were being discussed. However, reports indicate that she had actually received an invitation, which she later claimed landed in her spam folder.
Documents filed in early March by Beatty revealed her grievances against the Department of Justice (DOJ), which stated she was invited. Her attorney eventually acknowledged the missed invitation and mentioned the oversight.
“Plaintiff appreciates defendant’s confirmation that she will be able to attend the meeting at the White House,” the attorney stated, referring to the recently discovered email invitation.
Despite this, Beatty’s legal team pressed on against the Trump administration, arguing that the Kennedy Center’s Executive Director Richard Grenell and the organization’s legal counsel “ignored her for two days” in the lead-up to the meeting.
Beatty pointed out that, generally, meeting invitations are sent to official schedules, but this one went to her personal email and got lost in spam. Her attorney, Norm Eisen, noted the common plight of emails getting filtered out. “I don’t think there’s a single person here who hasn’t had an email disappear into a spam filter somewhere,” he remarked.
Beatty holds the position of an “ex-officio” member of the Kennedy Center board.
Justice Department attorney William Jankowski clarified that the plaintiffs wouldn’t have voting rights, explaining the procedures indicated such restrictions. Beatty expressed her desire to participate in the discussions about the Kennedy Center’s renovations after previously filing a lawsuit in December regarding Trump’s attempts to alter the institution’s status.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper recently heard pleadings related to Beatty’s request for a temporary restraining order.
