U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn has filed suit against former Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith and the U.S. Department of Justice for subpoenaing her Verizon cell phone records during an investigation of the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Blackburn is asking the court to declare Smith unlawfully appointed as special counsel and find his actions violated her civil rights.
Blackburn is the Republican nominee for Tennessee governor. Last year, she voted for a government shutdown-ending funding bill that included a provision allowing the six U.S. senators whose phone records were subpoenaed in the so-called “Arctic Frost” investigation to sue the U.S. government and seek millions of dollars in damages. Congress later overturned the option
for senators to seek financial compensation, but they can still sue.
Now, Blackburn is following through to “hold Smith accountable, in his personal capacity, for his gross abuses of power.”
Her lawsuit was filed on Sept. 30 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. Blackburn is represented by the nonprofit, nonpartisan law firm New Civil Liberties Alliance.
In the complaint, Blackburn asks the court to declare Smith was "unlawfully named" special counsel at the Justice Department and acted illegally in that capacity. Blackburn's attorneys also ask the court to declare the collection of her cell phone records a violation of her civil rights, and direct the Justice Department to destroy any copies of Blackburn's legislative materials and notes still in its custody.
Her lawsuit is seeking damages in the amount of one dollar, plus attorney fees and court costs.
Blackburn's suit was filed the day after Smith testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, on which Blackburn sits. During the Sept. 29 hearing, Republican senators submitted evidence that Arctic Frost investigators under Smith's authority had subpoenaed home addresses, bank account numbers and signatures of 4,782 Americans who donated to President Donald Trump, including more than 100 Tennesseans and several sitting members of Congress.
Throughout the hearing, Smith defended his investigation, saying he would not be silenced by "continued threats of prosecution" over how he handled it.
Blackburn was not present for the hearing with Smith. Instead, she attended an event in Knoxville celebrating a reactor construction permit for the Clinch River Nuclear Site.
Late in the afternoon, an official Senate social media account for Blackburn posted "Jack Smith should be disbarred."
“Through his Arctic Frost witch hunt that targeted conservatives across America and even the President of the United States, Jack Smith perpetrated one of the worst abuses of government power in our nation’s history,” Blackburn said. “This lawsuit is solely about holding Mr. Smith accountable and ensuring that our nation’s justice system can never again be weaponized against the American people.”
During the Republican gubernatorial primary, Blackburn was attacked for voting in favor of the Arctic Frost damages provision. She was also the target of a Senate ethics complaint that alleged her vote in support of the measure could have led to a significant personal "financial windfall." Throughout the primary, Blackburn said she would not seek financial damages.
Vivian Jones covers state government and politics for The Tennessean. Reach her at vjones@tennessean.com.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Blackburn sues Jack Smith, DOJ over cell phone record probe
