By Nate Raymond
July 7 (Reuters) – A woman who runs several cat-themed social media accounts mocking U.S. Vice President JD Vance based on viral comments he made that the country was being run by “childless cat ladies” filed a lawsuit on Tuesday alleging she was unconstitutionally barred from hearing him speak at an event in Maine.
Amanda McGonigle, a Massachusetts woman whose CatsOnACouch account on Instagram has amassed more than 1.9 million followers, alleged in a lawsuit filed in federal court in Maine that she had followed proper registration protocols to attend an event in May in Bangor where Vance was set to talk about his fraud crackdown initiative.
Yet McGonigle said that while waiting in line, she was singled out by officials including armed U.S. Secret Service agents who told her she was being excluded because “we know where you stand.”
McGonigle said she was excluded as a result of her CatsOnACouch accounts on Instagram and Facebook, which she launched beginning in 2024 after Vance’s 2021 “childless cat ladies” comments went viral. Those accounts feature political commentary, cat images and mockery of Vance, her lawyers at the American Civil Liberties Union say.
They argue that she was barred in retaliation for her online criticism of Vance in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment and are asking a judge to block the Secret Service from preventing her from attending future vice presidential events.
“Ms. McGonigle’s satirical social media content is purr-tected speech,” ACLU lawyer Laura Moraff said in a pun-filled statement. “Punishing her for her catty commentary is a cat-aclysmic blow to the First Amendment.”
The Secret Service declined to comment. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The May 14 event was tied to Vance’s leadership of the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud. According to the lawsuit, officials at the time justified McGonigle’s exclusion by claiming Vance’s event was private.
But McGonigle’s lawyers say it was actually an official government event organized by the Executive Office of the President, part of the White House, that relied at least in part on taxpayer funding.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Mark Porter)
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