where clause in findMany not working prisma

I am trying (desperately) to filter the pads based on the users email. For example if you log in with google as johndoe@gmail.com than it will fetch the pads for that specific user. I am using firebase for the authentication and if the user is a new user (getAdditionalUserInfo(userResponse).isNewUser) I save the email to the database. Right now the response is empty no matter what user I am signed in as even though I have created many pads. Any tips on if I am doing this right would be helpful. I am new to using stack overflow as a user so any helpful tips on that would be good as well.

here is the code to get the pads:

async pads(email: string): Promise<ScratchPad[]> {
  return this.prisma.scratchPad.findMany({
    where: {
      User: {
         email: email,
      },
    },
  });
}

here is the code to get the user:

async getUser(email: string): Promise<User | null> {
  return this.prismaService.user.findUnique({
    where: { email: email },
    include: {
      pads: true,
    },
  });
}

if you need more code please let me know but I am going to leave it at that since this question is getting large.

edit:

here is the prisma code as well:

model User {
  id    Int          @id @default(autoincrement())
  email String       @unique
  pads  ScratchPad[]
}

model ScratchPad {
  id      Int    @id @default(autoincrement())
  content String
  User    User?  @relation(fields: [userId], references: [id])
  userId  Int?
}