CHARLESTON, SC – August 21, 2025: “The Country became much scarier yesterday for ordinary US citizens. On behalf of our client, Brian Musgrave, we sued Representative Nancy Mace for calling him a predator, a rapist and sexual trafficker on the United States House of Representatives Floor on February 10, 2025, and in the social media posts and interviews that followed.
While we had to accept that Ms. Mace would be protected for the defamation she committed on the House floor, we were stunned and disappointed that she (and the rest of Congress for that matter) was granted what is effectively absolute immunity for any statement that they make, even if it is false, so long as the statement bears some connection to the discharge of legislative duties.
In effect, citizens like Brian can be defamed and maligned over and over by a member of Congress in any speech or post so long as the communication mentions pending legislation or is given is the course of performing legislative duties.
It is hard to imagine that this is what the original framers of our Constitution intended. When the speech and debate clause was adopted, we were limited to printed press with very small circulations. There was no TV and no internet. When the Westfall decision issued to protect Congress people for false and defamatory statements they may make outside the floor of Congress, there was no internet.
It seems patently unfair that a United States citizen who lives a law-abiding life can be grouped and called a rapist and a predator without any proof, and it can be done over and over again with immunity (and with impunity). More importantly, the court lacks even the power to issue an injunction to make the conduct stop. Politicians have license to say and do anything, as long as it serves some legitimate purpose and even if it is coupled with an illegitimate purpose. This is the net effect of the dismissal of Brian Musgrave’s claims.
More importantly, Musgrave’s dismissal is a virtual road map for Congressmen and Congresswomen to cloak their bad motives and desire to hurt people individually by merely stating what they were doing was in furtherance of some legitimate legislative function, even if the legitimate function is only tangentially related their conduct, the true intent of which may be to harass and destroy ordinary citizens. Unfortunately, the reverse doesn’t apply. If ordinary citizens are not cloaked with immunity and are answerable in court for their conduct. Doesn’t seem fair. Does it? Two sets of rules?
The application of the law in this setting is a practical grant of absolute immunity to members of Congress. There is certainly a rationale for qualified immunity, but one should be able to overcome the immunity by a showing of bad faith and individual motivations beyond the legislative function. There is no place for such disproportionate protection if our leadership is going to be honorable and conduct themselves in a manner befitting their offices. We were always taught there’s no right in wrong and no wrong in right. It is just that simple.
This was not a loss for Brian Musgrave, just a temporary setback. He should be applauded for fighting to restore his good name, and in the process, exposing how Congress shields its members when they weaponize their power against ordinary citizens. We will keep fighting for Brian Musgrave, his lovely wife and his two kids. We will not rest until his name is rightfully cleared. The name Brian Musgrave has been wrongfully soiled, and it’s going take a long time to clear. A lie travels halfway around the world before the truth can lace up in shoes.”
Attorneys Eric S. Bland and Ronald L. Richter, Jr.