1. United States
2. Mass.
3. Letter

I’m writing to urge you to immediately introduce and pass legislation repealing the self-serving, retroactive lawsuit provision that was quietly inserted into the government funding package. This rider—added without public debate and without the knowledge of most members—creates a special legal right for U.S. senators to sue the federal government for at least $500,000 per violation whenever their phone metadata is obtained without advance notice. Its retroactive date appears deliberately crafted so that eight Republican senators whose phone records were subpoenaed as part of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s January 6 investigation can now personally cash in. This is an outrageous misuse of the appropriations process and a direct attack on equal justice under law. The provision was tucked into the FY2026 legislative branch appropriations bill and, according to multiple reports, was personally inserted by Senate Majority Leader John Thune. Democrats on the Legislative Branch Subcommittee were not consulted. Ranking Member Sen. Martin Heinrich called the maneuver “precisely what’s wrong with the Senate.” Even privacy hawk Sen. Ron Wyden has condemned it as a “very troubling” abuse of process that appears designed to funnel taxpayer money to lawmakers who aided Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election. This is not about privacy rights—rights that all Americans deserve. This is about carving out a privileged class of lawmakers who receive legal protections and lucrative payouts that ordinary citizens will never enjoy. No other American has an absolute guarantee of notification if their call records are subpoenaed, much less the right to sue for half a million dollars if investigators do not notify them quickly enough. And unlike standard judicial procedures—which allow courts to temporarily delay notification when premature disclosure would jeopardize an investigation—this new law bars judges from issuing such orders for senators, except in narrowly defined circumstances. It is a unilateral weakening of federal investigatory authority designed specifically to shield elected officials. Worse, it is clearly retaliatory. Jack Smith’s subpoenas targeted phone metadata—not call content—as part of a legitimate, court-approved investigation into Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the election. Chief Judge James Boasberg reviewed and approved the nondisclosure provisions, as judges do routinely. Now, the very senators whose communications were relevant to that probe have crafted a mechanism to enrich themselves using taxpayer funds, while simultaneously attacking the judiciary and demanding Smith’s testimony. This is “money for me, but not for thee” governance at its most cynical. Congress should not allow hidden riders in must-pass bills to become vehicles for personal enrichment or political score-settling. If this provision truly protects institutional integrity, it would apply to all Americans, not just senators—and it certainly wouldn’t be retroactive. I urge you to swiftly repeal this provision and restore public trust. No member of Congress should profit from an investigation into efforts to overturn an election. Please act before this becomes yet another example of corruption normalized through inaction.