by Dr. Mark Creech
Director of Government Relations
Return America
RevMarkCreech.org
Earlier this month, national media outlets – from CBS News to The New York Times – descended on an unusual legal story originating not in Washington, D.C., but in North Carolina.
Former U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema now faces a civil lawsuit under North Carolina’s alienation of affection law – a statute unfamiliar to most, yet deeply rooted in the state’s long-standing interest in protecting marriage and family.
For many Return America supporters, this case raises an important question: Why does North Carolina still recognize alienation of affection and criminal conversation when most states do not, and why does that matter?
The Case That Sparked National Attention
The lawsuit was filed by Heather Ammel, a North Carolina resident, who alleges that Sinema knowingly and intentionally interfered with her marriage to Matthew Ammel, ultimately contributing to its collapse.
According to the complaint, Matthew Ammel began working on Sinema’s security detail in 2022 and later joined her Senate staff. Over time, the lawsuit alleges, the relationship crossed professional boundaries – leading to extensive private communication, travel together, emotional intimacy, and ultimately the breakdown of the Ammels’ marriage. The couple separated in November 2024.
The case is now in federal court, but it relies entirely on North Carolina law – law that exists because our state has chosen not to abandon the principle that marriage deserves protection from outside interference.
What Is Alienation of Affection?
Alienation of affection is a civil cause of action that allows a spouse to sue a third party – not the unfaithful spouse – who wrongfully and intentionally destroys the love and affection within a marriage.
To succeed, the plaintiff must show:
- A genuine marriage with existing love and affection
- That love and affection were destroyed
- That the destruction was caused by the wrongful and intentional acts of a third party
Criminal conversation is a related claim, narrower in scope, requiring proof of sexual relations between the third party and a married person.
These laws are not about punishing private thoughts or policing consensual adult relationships. They exist to recognize that marriage is not a casual arrangement – and that those who knowingly intrude upon it bear responsibility for the harm they cause.
Why North Carolina Is One of the Last States Standing
As of 2024, only six states still recognize alienation of affection or criminal conversation: North Carolina, Hawaii, Mississippi, New Mexico, South Dakota, and Utah.
Many states repealed these laws decades ago, not because adultery became harmless, but because cultural attitudes shifted. Marriage was increasingly redefined as disposable, and the law followed the culture.
North Carolina chose a different path.
Our courts have consistently upheld these statutes as constitutional. They do not violate free speech, freedom of association, or due process. They do not criminalize intimacy. Instead, they acknowledge that when a third party deliberately undermines a marriage, real harm is done, and justice may require accountability.
The Deterrent We Should Not Surrender
In 2021, legislation (HB 485 – Amend 1 – T.R. Sep/Repeal Alien, of Aff/Crim. Con) was introduced in the North Carolina General Assembly to repeal alienation of affection and criminal conversation entirely. I testified forcefully against that bill in committee, arguing that repealing the law would remove one of the last meaningful deterrents against home-wrecking behavior.
The bill never made it out of committee – and for good reason.
While money can never repair a broken family, the possibility of legal consequences still restrains some from crossing lines they might otherwise ignore. The law sends a clear signal: Marriage matters, and outsiders do not get a free pass to destroy it.
Adultery by the Numbers
Those who dismiss these laws as outdated often underestimate the scale of the problem.
Studies consistently show:
- Approximately 20 – 40% of divorces involve infidelity
- Roughly 53% of couples experiencing infidelity divorce within five years, even with counseling
- Nearly 40% of those who admit to adultery are already separated or divorced
In an age of social media, encrypted messaging apps, and normalized “open relationships,” adultery has become easier to conceal – and much easier to rationalize. Consequences, meanwhile, have grown scarce.
Alienation of affection does not solve this crisis. But it refuses to pretend it doesn’t exist and it works as a deterrent.
Why This Law Still Serves the Common Good
North Carolina’s alienation of affection law does not exist to shame, moralize, or intrude. Neither is the law about getting revenge. It exists to affirm a simple truth: marriage is a covenant with tremendous social consequences.
When that covenant is deliberately undermined by a third party, the damage extends beyond two adults. Children lose stability. Families fracture. Faithful Spouses can suffer huge, unjust losses. Communities bear the cost.
The law stands as one of the few remaining acknowledgments in American jurisprudence that adultery is not merely a private lifestyle choice – it is a public harm.
In a culture that increasingly shrugs at betrayal, North Carolina still says no.
And that is something worth defending.
