Viewpoints
Devin Nunes files serial lawsuits while voting against Americans’ right to use courts
The American public has often expressed cynicism about members of Congress – and with good reason. Too many congress members often say one thing and do another. There is no better example of this than Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Tulare).
In 2019 alone, Nunes filed a barrage of defamation lawsuits against news organizations, private citizens and imaginary livestock. He threatened to sue fellow Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Long Beach). Yet even as he uses civil justice courts for his own personal and political gains, Nunes has consistently voted to keep Americans from exercising similar rights in the courts. Nunes essentially is telling us, “Do as I say, not as I sue.”
To recap: In March 2019, Congressman Nunes sued Republican campaign strategist Liz Mair, Twitter and two parody accounts – “Devin Nunes’ Mom” and “Devin Nunes’ Cow” – which were relatively unknown prior to the suit. The accounts call him a “libel tourist” and a “treasonous cowpoke.” Twitter refused to disclose the account holders’ identities. Liz Mair is a Republican political strategist who worked against Nunes’ 2018 campaign.
Nunes sued Mair again in April, along with McClatchy, the parent company of his hometown paper, The Fresno Bee. He claimed The Bee defamed him with an entirely accurate 2018 news story titled “Yacht, cocaine, prostitutes: Winery partly owned by Nunes sued after fundraising event.”
Nunes filed his lawsuit in Virginia instead of California, in an apparent attempt to exploit that state’s weaker protections for defamation defendants.
In August, Nunes sued Democratic groups and a retired stone-fruit farmer within his district because they had accused him of being a “fake farmer.” In September, he sued research firm Fusion GPS, a Democratic group called Campaign for Accountability, journalist Ryan Lizza and the Hearst media company. He capped off his litigious year in December by suing CNN.
Suing the free press for publishing factual stories is nothing more than an attempt to stifle free speech. But as President Trump and his enablers continue to demonize the press as “enemies of the people” and so forth, perhaps the actual goal of Nunes’ litigation blitz is gaining notoriety in order to boost his fundraising take: He now has more campaign cash on hand than any current House Member.
Yet while filing serial lawsuits against his critics, Nunes has simultaneously worked to prevent Americans from seeking justice in the courts. Nunes voted against the FAIR Act, House Resolution 1423, which restores Americans’ Seventh Amendment right to hold wrongdoers accountable in court rather than in a secretive forced arbitration proceeding. He also voted to repeal a rule issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that lets Americans sue banks and credit card companies rather than being subjected to forced arbitration. And he voted for HR 1927, which severely weakens class action litigation.
Nunes supported HR 1215 in 2017, which creates extreme hurdles for injured patients seeking to hold health care providers accountable. And, perhaps most hypocritically, he voted for the Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act, which would impose penalties for filing frivolous lawsuits in order to protect individuals and businesses from unnecessary legal costs.
So Rep. Nunes fills his time by either filing lawsuits – or preventing others from doing so. This is conduct unbecoming of a member of Congress, and it’s an embarrassment to the good people of California’s 22nd congressional District.
By talking out of both sides of his mouth, Nunes destroys the credibility of both his litigation and his legislation. It’s clearer every day that neither can be taken very seriously.
Rep. Nunes should start allowing others access to the courts. It would be a small but important act in starting to restore trust in Congress.
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