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
While the gag order holds, Mace promotes her 'Predators Act' as 'deeply personal'
On January 11, 2026, with the Berg v. Bryant gag order in effect and days before the court's supplemental order, Mace promoted her 'Preventing Prosecutors from Protecting Predators Act' from her verified @RepNancyMace account, calling it 'deeply personal' and tying it to 'trauma' she says she experienced 'two years ago.' Opposing counsel flagged the post as a continued public statement about matters connected to the case.
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."
On January 9 and January 13, 2026, Judge Hocker entered a supplemental gag order in the same case, further clarifying the restrictions on public statements.
The January 11 post
On January 11, 2026, from her verified X account @RepNancyMace, Mace posted:
"Our Preventing Prosecutors from Protecting Predators Act is more than legislation, it's deeply personal."
An accompanying video statement elaborated, in full:
"Two years ago, you all know that I went through a significant and extreme amount of trauma. And when I went through the trauma that I experienced, I learned that the system was just completely broken."
The post is embedded below:
The flagged statement
The post prompted opposing counsel to flag it as a continued public statement made during the effective period of the gag order. The statement was not incorporated into the contempt motion filed January 12, 2026, but was noted as part of the record of public comments concerning matters connected to the litigation.
The January 11 post appears to reference events and trauma Mace has described in connection with the underlying claims at issue in Berg v. Bryant. The gag order prohibits statements "about any aspect of this case … via … social media … or any other forms of communication."
Below is a screenshot of the January 11, 2026 post:
The January 11, 2026 @RepNancyMace post, which accompanied a video statement tying the "Predators Act" to personal trauma.
Mace's position
Mace has disputed the validity and enforceability of the gag order. In a January 21, 2026 letter to Judge Hocker, filed on the state docket and attached 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 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 gag order: Gag Order, Nov. 26, 2025 (PDF), Judge Donald B. Hocker, Berg v. Bryant, No. 2025-CP-10-03124.
- The supplemental gag order: Supplemental Gag Order, Jan. 13, 2026 (PDF), Judge Donald B. Hocker, Berg v. Bryant, No. 2025-CP-10-03124.
- The post: Mace's January 11, 2026 @RepNancyMace statement.
- 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).