U.S. Rep. Beatty’s Kennedy Center lawsuit falls apart as email invitation was in the spam folder
U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, who is suing President Donald Trump and the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees over their decision to rebrand the center, recently confirmed that she received the Kennedy Center invitation from the Trump administration, but it was in her spam folder.
Beatty’s lawyers said in court filings last week that she was not invited to a March 16 meeting, during which the center’s overhaul would be formalized.
The U.S. Justice Department provided a memorandum in opposition. Later on, Beatty’s counsel confirmed that Beatty received an invitation from the center. The only reason she didn’t see it was that it appeared in her spam folder.
“Plaintiff appreciates Defendants’ confirmation that she can attend the meeting at the White House,” her lawyers wrote, confirming that, “upon further investigation,” the email was found in the spam folder.
Beatty and her team tried to save themselves from the unfavorable situation by saying that it would be important to point out that when Beatty could not find the email last week, the Kennedy Center’s executive director, Richard Grenell, and general counsel “ignored her for two days.”
On Thursday, Beatty said that her invitation to Kennedy Center board meetings has typically gone to her official scheduler and chief of staff. However, Beatty said that instead of sending the invitation to either of them, the center sent it to Beatty’s personal email.
“I doubt there’s a single person here who hasn’t had an email vanish somewhere in a spam filter,” lawyer Norm Eisen told The Hill on Thursday after the court hearing. “That’s what happened here. But the important thing is the congresswoman checked, and they were silent.”
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper heard arguments on Thursday over Beatty’s motion for a temporary restraining order that would allow her to voice her opinion and vote on Trump’s plan to shut down the Kennedy Center for two years to “completely rebuild” it.
Beatty sued Trump and other board members in December over efforts to “rename, shutter and gut” the center. Beatty filed a lawsuit after the board voted to add Trump’s name to the center’s name, updating the building’s signage.
Beatty disputed the claim that the decision to rename the center was unanimous, saying she was on the call when it was made and that she was prevented from opposing it because she was constantly muted, and, according to Beatty’s lawyers, the March 16 meeting will be exactly the same.
“The next thing you know, the bulldozers are at the front door,” lawyer Nathaniel Zelinsky said, according to The Hill. The news source added that the Trump administration opposes Beatty’s voting on the matter.
“To be sure, Plaintiff will not be permitted to vote,” DOJ lawyer William Jankowski wrote. “But that is because, under the Center’s bylaws and established procedure, ex officio trustees have no right to vote.”
Jankowski added that the board may self-regulate because the federal statute that established the Kennedy Center does not address the voting rights of ex officio trustees, such as Beatty, instead distinguishing them from the governing general trustees, according to The Hill.
