We rejoice when Republicans and Democrats in our Congress today publicize bipartisan efforts to get legislation passed. Mind you, this should be the norm and not the exception, but that’s not the world we live in anymore. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has teamed up with fellow Republicans as well as Democrats for the worthiest of causes: banning the use of non-disclosure agreements to silence victims of ...

Ted Cruz arrives to a hearing in the U.S. Capitol on Dec. 17, 2025, in Washington, DC.

Heather Diehl/Getty Images North America/TNS

We rejoice when Republicans and Democrats in our Congress today publicize bipartisan efforts to get legislation passed. Mind you, this should be the norm and not the exception, but that’s not the world we live in anymore.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has teamed up with fellow Republicans as well as Democrats for the worthiest of causes: banning the use of non-disclosure agreements to silence victims of sexual abuse.

The movement to protect sexual abuse victims from NDAs has roots in Dallas thanks to the advocacy of Elizabeth Carlock Phillips. She lost her 28-year-old brother, Trey Carlock, to suicide in 2019 after he settled a civil lawsuit against a Missouri children’s camp over the abuse he suffered as a child.

The settlement entailed an NDA. Phillips wrote on our pages that this NDA weighed on her brother, to the point where he worried about even telling his story in therapy for fear that Kanakuk Kamps, the Missouri-based summer camp that is somehow still popular here, would come after him.

NDAs are designed to muzzle victims while protecting the people who groom and take advantage of children and other vulnerable people. The ability to hide their crimes makes it easier for the abusers to find new victims, as multiple church scandals have made abundantly clear.

Carlock Phillips teamed up with a bipartisan group in the Texas Legislature in 2025 and helped pass Trey’s Law, which voids the use of NDAs in civil cases involving sexual abuse and trafficking. The law applies to all such agreements, regardless of the age of the victim when the abuse occurred. Missouri, California and Tennessee have similar laws.

Cruz announced this month that he is working with Republican Sens. Katie Britt of Alabama and Eric Schmitt of Missouri as well as Democratic Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Peter Welch of Vermont to pass a federal Trey’s Law. The bill introduced by Cruz would outlaw NDAs in child sexual abuse cases.

According to Cruz’s office, the protection would apply regardless of whether the NDA was signed before or in the course of civil litigation.

We appreciate Cruz’s leadership in promoting laws to shield sexual exploitation victims from further harm. Our junior senator was instrumental in passing the federal Take It Down Act to prosecute people who post or threaten to post nonconsensual intimate images, even “deepfake porn” generated with artificial intelligence.

That law, too, was inspired by a young Texan. Aledo High School student Elliston Berry was 14 when a classmate used an AI platform to create realistic nude images of her that were then shared around the school.

As AI platforms proliferate, it is that much more important for members of Congress to crack down on tech companies. Plenty of evidence has surfaced over the years that these companies have turned a blind eye to predators because the bottom line is to grow an ever-younger audience addicted to their products, even when those products put them at risk.

We urge Cruz to continue championing children’s safety by working across the aisle. This should be his legacy.

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