Days after ExxonMobil began pressing the Supreme Court to give corporations a First Amendment right to hide pollution, tech giant RealPage filed a federal lawsuit asserting that artificial intelligence companies have the same constitutional right to help landlords collude to raise rents.

RealPage’s case, filed last Wednesday, asks a federal court to overturn New York’s landmark state law aiming to halt algorithmic rent-fixing by artificial intelligence software. In a court filing reviewed by the Lever, the company calls the law “a sweeping and unconstitutional ban on lawful speech specifically intended to outlaw software developed and sold by companies like Plaintiff RealPage, Inc. that provide information and advice to owners and managers of rental properties.”

New York’s law was designed to help combat the $3.8 billion worth of annual rent increases nationwide caused by artificial intelligence software, according to a 2024 White House report. That report cited federal statistics showing that nearly “1 in every 4 rental uses a RealPage pricing algorithm” to set rent prices.

RealPage’s suit is one in a string of cases in which corporations are advancing new interpretations of the First Amendment to try to protect their power. In one set of cases, companies are arguing that the First Amendment prevents the government from compelling them to disclose information to consumers and law enforcement agencies. Other industry groups are now arguing that public health regulators cannot restrict how food products are advertised.

The New York lawsuit from RealPage, which is owned by private equity giant Thoma Bravo, comes after the company has been hit with class-action lawsuits alleging that its software has facilitated a price-fixing cartel among landlords. In a federal antitrust lawsuit, the Biden-era Department of Justice (DOJ) asserted that “RealPage’s pricing algorithm enables landlords to share confidential, competitively sensitive information and align their rents.”

Days after President Donald Trump asserted his commitment to an affordability agenda, his top antitrust enforcer this week declared that “RealPage was replacing competition with coordination, and renters paid the price.” But then the Trump administration agreed to a settlement widely seen as benefiting the company. Indeed, RealPage declared that “we deny any wrongdoing (and) we appreciate the constructive engagement by DOJ and its willingness to bless the legality of RealPage’s prior and planned product changes.”

In the lead-up to the settlement, Thoma Bravo hired lobbying firm Ballard Partners to represent the company on “issues related to competition in the housing industry.” Ballard previously employed Trump attorney general Pam Bondi.

Trump is now reportedly considering issuing an executive order aiming to ban all state laws regulating artificial intelligence companies.