CLC Complaint to Senate Ethics Committee Regarding Misuse of Legislative Power

Campaign Legal Center asked the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics to investigate whether certain senators used their legislative power to advance their personal financial interests in violation of Senate rules. Specifically, the Senate passed legislation that immediately allows eight senators to sue the government for prior seizure of their phone records with mandatory minimum damage awards of $500,000 per violation. Senate ethics rules prohibit senators from introducing or aiding the progress or passage of legislation where the legislation’s principal purpose is to further the pecuniary interest of themselves or a limited class of persons of which the senator is a member.​