Group backing Brett Kavanaugh for Supreme Court sued over robotexts in Indiana

President Trump introduces Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

A group campaigning in support of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh violated state and federal laws with a mass robotext to Hoosiers, claims a class action lawsuit filed in federal court in Indianapolis.

The lawsuit alleges that Judicial Crisis Network broke state law by making the texts appear as if they came from a phone number for Sen. Joe Donnelly's Washington, D.C., office.

The lawsuit also claims that JCN violated federal law by using an "automatic telephone dialing system" to text people without their prior consent.

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The texts were sent earlier this month.

Carrie Severino, Chief Counsel and Policy Director for the Washington, D.C.-based organization, said in a statement: "Judicial Crisis Network used a peer-to-peer texting system that is identical to the system used by Bernie Sanders and other Democratic politicians — contrary to the baseless allegations, we did not use automatic dialers.

"Also, the allegation that we engaged in spoofing is false because the number displayed on the text message was in fact owned by the vendor who sent the text message. When that number was called, the call was forwarded to Senator Donnelly’s office to assist his constituents in communicating with him."

Around July 10, the lawsuit says, an unknown number of Hoosiers received a text message urging people to support Kavanaugh, contact Donnelly and click on a website link.

The lawsuit alleges that JCN used "equipment that had the capacity to store or produce telephone numbers to be called using a random or sequential number generator, and to dial such numbers."

Last year, ZDNet reported that political campaigns could obtain cellphone numbers if, for example, Facebook users granted certain apps access to their personal information. The information could have been sold by the apps to advertising companies.

Donnelly, who is running for re-election this year, is considered a potentially vulnerable Democrat and is being pressured by groups to support and oppose Kavanaugh's nomination for the U.S. Supreme Court.

Donnelly's office directed inquiries to the senator's campaign.

"If they truly had faith in their message, special interest groups like Judicial Crisis Network wouldn't need to stoop to underhanded tactics in order to influence Indiana voters," Will Baskin-Gerwitz, communications director for Donnelly's campaign, wrote in a statement. "Hoosiers deserve the right to determine where they stand free from shady and potentially illegal tactics like those alleged in this lawsuit."

Call Mark Alesia at 317-444-6311. Follow him on Twitter: @markalesia.