A former United States senator now faces a federal lawsuit for allegedly seducing a married man on her own security detail, and the legal weapon being used against her dates back centuries.
Former Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is the defendant in an alienation of affection case filed by Heather Ammel, the ex-wife of Matthew Ammel, a bodyguard who served on Sinema's protective detail. The suit, originally filed in Moore County Superior Court in North Carolina, has since been moved to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina. It seeks at least $25,000 in compensatory damages plus punitive damages for what the complaint calls "willful and wanton conduct," with AP News reporting the total demand at no less than $75,000.
The case has drawn national attention not just because of the famous name attached to it, but because North Carolina remains one of only a handful of states that still allow these suits. Under the state's alienation of affection statute, a spouse can seek financial damages from a third party accused of helping destroy a marriage. Critics call them antiquated. Supporters say they protect the institution of marriage itself.
Heather Ammel's lawsuit paints a picture of a marriage upended by a powerful boss. The complaint alleges that Matthew and Heather Ammel had "a good and loving marriage" with "genuine love and affection" before Sinema interfered, pursuing Matthew Ammel despite knowing he was married. The couple had children together.
The alleged relationship between Sinema and Matthew Ammel reportedly began while he was working security for her. Just The News reported that Heather Ammel places the affair during 2023 and 2024, a period when Sinema was still serving in the U.S. Senate.
The complaint goes further, alleging that Sinema exchanged romantic messages with Matthew Ammel, traveled with him as part of her security detail, and later gave him a national security fellow position in her Senate office. That detail adds a layer of professional entanglement to the personal allegations, raising questions about the use of a congressional office in the context of an alleged affair.
In a striking legal move, Sinema did not deny the affair. The Washington Examiner reported that Sinema admitted in a motion to dismiss that she had an extramarital affair with Matthew Ammel. The relationship allegedly began in May 2024 while Sinema was still in Congress and while Ammel was still married.
Her defense strategy does not rest on denial. Instead, her attorneys argue that North Carolina courts have no business hearing the case. Sinema's lawyer stated in the filing that "because Defendant's conduct related to her romantic relationship with Mr. Ammel does not connect her to North Carolina in a meaningful way, jurisdiction over her in this action does not comport with due process."
That jurisdictional argument could prove decisive. If a federal judge agrees that Sinema lacks sufficient ties to North Carolina to justify the suit proceeding there, the case could be dismissed regardless of its factual merits. CLN previously covered Sinema's confirmation of the affair and her push for dismissal, a development that transformed the case from tabloid gossip into a live legal contest over personal jurisdiction and due process.
Most states abandoned alienation of affection claims decades ago, viewing them as relics of an era when wives were treated as property. North Carolina kept them. Fox News reported on the broader phenomenon of betrayed spouses using the state's law to turn infidelity into courtroom battles with real financial consequences.
The law allows a married person to sue anyone they believe intentionally interfered with their marriage, seeking both compensatory and punitive damages. The suits do not require proof of a sexual relationship, only that the third party's conduct alienated the spouse's affections.
University of Virginia sociologist Brad Wilcox framed the law in terms of social value. "These laws are designed to reinforce the marital bond and secure the importance of fidelity in marriage," Wilcox said, as the New York Post reported.
North Carolina family attorney Charles R. Ullman offered a more practical view of why the suits persist.
"It's one of the few ways that people feel like they get some type of relief."
The case now sits in federal court, where the jurisdictional question will likely be resolved before any trial on the underlying allegations. Sinema's legal team moved the case out of state court, a common tactic when a defendant believes federal judges may apply constitutional standards more favorably on jurisdictional challenges.
Heather Ammel's legal team will need to demonstrate that Sinema's alleged conduct has a sufficient connection to North Carolina to justify the suit proceeding there. The fact that the Ammels resided in Moore County and that the marriage allegedly damaged was a North Carolina marriage could weigh in the plaintiff's favor.
Investigators and the court will also need to examine the timeline of events. The complaint places the affair during 2023 and 2024, but Sinema's motion to dismiss pins the start date at May 2024. That discrepancy could matter if the court scrutinizes when and where the alleged conduct occurred.
For conservatives who view marriage as a foundational institution, North Carolina's alienation of affection statute represents something rare in modern American law: a mechanism that assigns real consequences to those who help destroy a family. The Sinema case, whatever its outcome, has already put the law back in the national spotlight.
The fact that a former U.S. senator now stands as a defendant in one of these suits only sharpens the stakes. Sinema left the Senate in January 2025 after choosing not to seek reelection. She had already switched her party affiliation from Democrat to independent during her term. Now her personal conduct during her final months in office faces scrutiny not from voters, but from a courtroom.
Heather Ammel's complaint does not merely seek money. It seeks a legal declaration that a powerful person cannot walk into a marriage, help dismantle it, and face no consequences. Whether North Carolina's courts will deliver that declaration remains an open question.
When the law still treats marriage as something worth defending, even former senators have to answer for what they allegedly took from someone else's family.
