Blackburn sues Jack Smith over secret phone-records subpoena

US Senator Marsha Blackburn has filed a federal lawsuit against former special counsel Jack Smith, accusing him of unlawfully subpoenaing her mobile phone records during the investigation into the 6 January 2021 Capitol riot.

Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican who is running for governor of the state, filed the complaint on 30 September in the US District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, one day after Smith testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The suit also names the Department of Justice.

According to the complaint, Smith’s team obtained her Verizon “toll records” — details of who she called, when and for how long, but not the content of messages or calls — covering 4–7 January 2021, under the investigation codenamed Arctic Frost. She alleges the team secured a non-disclosure order that barred Verizon from telling her, and did not disclose to the issuing judge that the target was a sitting senator.

The lawsuit asks the court to declare Smith’s appointment as special counsel unconstitutional under the Appointments Clause — he was neither nominated by the president nor confirmed by the Senate — to order the destruction or return of her records, and to award nominal damages of $1.

Blackburn is represented by the New Civil Liberties Alliance. She says she only learned of the subpoena in October 2025, when Senate Judiciary chairman Chuck Grassley publicly revealed it.

At the 29 September hearing, Smith said toll records of members of Congress corroborated evidence that Donald Trump tried to “exploit” the Capitol violence by calling lawmakers to delay certification of Joe Biden’s election victory.

Sources

• USA Today: Sen. Marsha Blackburn sues Jack Smith for getting Jan. 6 phone records
• The Tennessean: Blackburn sues Jack Smith, DOJ over cell phone record probe
• Washington Examiner: Marsha Blackburn sues Jack Smith over her seized phone records
• U.S. Senate: Blackburn Sues Jack Smith for Unlawfully Seizing Phone Records