Everyone knows the black hole: the VA claim that vanishes, the benefits appeal that never comes back, the form letter that answers a question you didn’t ask. A right to petition your government means nothing if the government can simply ignore you until you give up. This statute puts hard deadlines, a named human being, and real consequences behind the answer you’re owed.
You filed the claim, the complaint, the appeal — and nothing came back. No name, no case number, no deadline, no human being who owed you an answer.Check it
When a response finally came, it was a form letter that never engaged with what you actually said. High case volume was the standing excuse for never answering at all.Check it
People who pushed — who kept calling, who filed again — got quietly marked as troublemakers, and treated worse for it.Check it
Meanwhile the paid lobbyist got a meeting the same week. Your petition was a formality; theirs was a transaction.Check it
For more than sixty years, a doctrine called Noerr-Pennington has given companies broad antitrust immunity when they use the government against a competitor — lobbying for a rule that kneecaps a rival, or working a regulatory process to box them out. The immunity holds even when crushing competition is the whole point, and the narrow exceptions courts allow are hard to prove. So market-rigging routed through the political process has largely escaped antitrust law.Check it
Every agency must acknowledge your petition within 15 business days — with the name of the official assigned to it, a tracking number, and an honest estimate of how long it will take.
A substantive written response within 90 days that addresses what you actually raised. A form letter that dodges your concerns doesn’t count as a response.
Volume is never an excuse. The VA, SSA, USCIS, IRS — they can streamline, but they cannot use their own backlog as a reason to ignore you.
Retaliating against someone for petitioning is prohibited outright. Demanding what you’re owed can never make you a target.
The right to petition is still absolute — but it’s no longer a get-out-of-antitrust-free card. Competitors who use lobbying, litigation, or a standards body to rig a market are fully liable, sham filings meant to bury a rival through sheer cost get no protection, and a private standard doesn’t become clean just because the government later points to it. (CS-24 Fight 6; Article Thirty-One §6.)
Submissions disappeared with no confirmation, no tracking, and no way to find out who — if anyone — had your file.Check it
Acknowledgment within 15 business days, and it must contain three things: the name and contact of the specific official assigned, a unique tracking number, and a good-faith time estimate. Missing any one of them, and it doesn’t count as acknowledgment.
Indefinite delay and boilerplate were the norm — a "response" that engaged with nothing you said.Check it
A substantive written response within 90 days that addresses the specific issues you raised. If it genuinely needs longer, they must tell you why, how much longer, and who is responsible for the final answer — within those same 90 days.
The biggest agencies — the ones people need most — used their own backlogs as a permanent excuse.Check it
High-volume agencies may build streamlined systems, but volume is never a defense for non-response. Every petitioner is still entitled to an answer that addresses their matter.
Constituent service was a courtesy — answered if convenient, ignored if not.Check it
Congressional constituent service carries its own response standards and accountability. Your representative’s office owes you an answer, not a favor.
Persistent petitioners were flagged as difficult, and quietly punished through the very processes they were trying to use.Check it
Punishment for petitioning is defined and prohibited — no one can be treated as a troublemaker for demanding that their government address their grievance.
Access to redress was uneven, and information about your own government was hard to pry loose.Check it
The right to petition extends to every person present in the country, regardless of citizenship status — and FOIA is confirmed as an instrument of petition, with universal scope. Asking your government what it’s doing is part of the right itself.
This is the plain-language version. The binding text is CS-24, which implements Right 6 and Article Thirty-One of the Constitution.
This is your country’s law. Help shape the next draft of it.
