Part of: Mace Federal Removal (Berg v. Bryant → D.S.C.) · Berg v. Bryant (and Bryant's Third-Party Complaint against Mace) · Assignment Desk Works, LLC v. Alexis Berg · Musgrave v. Mace (2:25-cv-01823-RMG) · Nancy Mace's Gag Order Violations · Litigation Overview & Court-Filing Index
Two days into the gag order, Mace posts: 'IMPEACH ALL CORRUPT JUDGES', 'especially including those in South Carolina SPECIFICALLY.'
On November 28, 2025, two days after Judge Hocker entered the sua sponte gag order in Berg v. Bryant, Mace posted from her verified @RepNancyMace account calling to impeach 'all corrupt judges,' adding in the same thread 'especially including those in South Carolina SPECIFICALLY.' Bryant and Bowman's January 12, 2026 contempt motion makes the post Exhibit 4 and contends it violated the gag order.
On November 26, 2025, Judge Donald B. Hocker of the Charleston County Court of Common Pleas, Ninth Judicial Circuit, entered a sua sponte gag order in Berg v. Bryant, Case No. 2025-CP-10-03124. The order barred all parties and their agents and attorneys from "Making or publishing any comment about any aspect of this case … via oral, written, social media, text or any other forms of communication" and from commenting about "any party or attorney to this case or anyone connected to this case."
On November 28, 2025, two days after the order was circulated to all counsel, Mace posted from her verified X account @RepNancyMace:
"IMPEACH ALL CORRUPT JUDGES"
The same thread contained a follow-up:
"Especially including those in South Carolina SPECIFICALLY."
The post recorded 9,232 views.
The contempt motion's account
On January 12, 2026, plaintiffs Patrick Bryant and Eric Bowman filed an "Order to Show Cause and Motion for Civil Contempt Against Nancy Mace" in Berg v. Bryant. The motion attaches Mace's November 28 posts as Exhibit 4 and contends that Mace was criticizing the judges presiding over or related to the case, thereby violating the order. The motion argues: "it may be reasonably inferred that Mace is criticizing the same judges she criticized only days earlier when naming Mr. Bowman."
Page 6 of that filing, reproduced below, describes the posts and their timing:
The November 28, 2025 @RepNancyMace posts calling to "IMPEACH ALL CORRUPT JUDGES" and adding "Especially including those in South Carolina SPECIFICALLY", Exhibit 4 to the January 12, 2026 contempt motion in Berg v. Bryant (No. 2025-CP-10-03124).
The full contempt motion, including all exhibits, is available here.
Mace's position
Mace has disputed both the contempt motion and the validity of the gag order itself. In a January 21, 2026 letter to Judge Hocker, filed pro se on the state docket and attached as an exhibit to her federal removal filings, she wrote that the order is "overly broad, unconstitutional, and unenforceable, particularly as applied to a sitting member of the U.S. Congress and leading candidate for Governor of South Carolina." The full letter is reproduced in the dispatch "Kangaroo Court … I will not be SILENCED".
The underlying dispute is the subject of ongoing civil litigation in Berg v. Bryant (Case No. 2025-CP-10-03124) and related actions, and a separate South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) investigation. All allegations in the contempt motion remain unproven and contested. Mace denies Bryant's claims and contests the validity of the gag order; Bryant and Bowman deny Mace's allegations; no underlying matter has been adjudicated. The gag order's constitutionality is itself disputed and has not been ruled upon. Nothing here is a finding of fact. For background on the parties see People in the Public Record.
Sources & related coverage:
- The contempt motion: Order to Show Cause and Motion for Civil Contempt Against Nancy Mace (PDF), filed January 12, 2026, Berg v. Bryant, No. 2025-CP-10-03124 (Charleston County Court of Common Pleas); the November 28, 2025 @RepNancyMace posts appear as Exhibit 4.
- The gag order: Gag Order, Nov. 26, 2025 (PDF), Judge Donald B. Hocker, Berg v. Bryant, No. 2025-CP-10-03124.
- Case hub: Berg v. Bryant, court filings
- Topic overview: The Gag Order · The Litigation
- Mace's response: "Kangaroo Court … I will not be SILENCED" (Jan. 21, 2026)
- SC Judicial Branch Public Index, Case No. 2025-CP-10-03124 (Charleston County).