McGonigle v. Curran

On July 7, 2026, the ACLU of Maine and the ACLU sued the federal government on behalf of our client, Amanda McGonigle, for excluding her from an official vice presidential event in retaliation for her constitutionally protected criticisms of the vice president on social media. Ms. McGonigle operates social media accounts under the username "CatsOnACouch"—a reference to the vice president’s comments about cat ladies running the country—where she posts humorous criticism of Vice President Vance, shares political messages, and urges followers to support various causes such as mutual aid efforts supporting immigrant communities. The CatsOnACouch Instagram account has more than 1.9 million followers.

In May 2026, Ms. McGonigle registered to attend a government event in Bangor, Maine publicizing the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, which is led by J.D. Vance. Ms. McGonigle received confirmation of her registration and travelled to Bangor to attend the event, where she planned to express herself as a dissenting audience member by—for example—staying silent or booing while others clapped or cheered, and wearing a t-shirt saying “JD Vance cured my imposter syndrome.” When Ms. McGonigle was standing in line for the event, armed Secret Service agents and other government officials singled her out by name and refused her entry. They explicitly cited her viewpoints and criticism of the administration as the reason for excluding her, stating "we know where you stand."

The First Amendment prohibits the government from excluding people from official, publicly funded events in retaliation for their protected speech and political viewpoints. We urge the court to declare that the government’s exclusion of Ms. McGonigle from official vice presidential events based on her satirical social media posts is unconstitutional, and to prohibit the government from excluding Ms. McGonigle from future events on that basis. The First Amendment protects political speech even, and indeed especially, when it may be uncomfortable or embarrassing to the government.