A Missouri Congressman filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday after a painting by one of his constituents was taken down by other members of Congress, including Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine.
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The painting depicts what looks like a police officer in uniform with the head of pig and a protestor with the head of a wolf. It depicts Ferguson, Missouri, in the aftermath of protests after a police shooting of an unarmed black man in 2014. Painted by a St. Louis high school senior, it was hanging in the Capitol for seven months, as one of the winners of the Congressional Art Competition, according to the office of U.S. Rep. Lacy Clay, D-MO.
In early January, the office of Hunter, confessed to removing the picture. The congressman personally unscrewed the artwork from the wall, after the painting was featured on Fox News. It was reinstalled and then removed by at least one other Republican congressman before it was taken down by authorities at the Capitol.
The congressmen weren’t included in the federal suit filed Tuesday by Clay. In a statement, Clay said Capitol officials chose to retroactively censor the young artist’s artwork “in response to the enormous political pressure … experienced from the Speaker of the House and certain right-wing media outlets.”
Hunter’s office did not return requests for comment.
