Supreme Court Allows Jan. 6 Committee Access To Arizona GOP Chair's Phone Records

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for the phone records of Arizona's Republican chair to be turned over to the House of Representatives committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

The high court refused a request to block a subpoena for the phone records of Arizona Republican Chairwoman Kelli Ward.

Ward, a longtime ally of former President Trump, argued that the request for her phone records from her service provider, T-Mobile, was a violation of free-speech rights.

The decision upheld a lower court ruling.

Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented without explanations.

Thomas participated in the case even though his wife Ginni Thomas emailed 29 Arizona lawmakers requesting them to "choose" presidential electors before Jan. 6. Thomas has also testified before the committee.

Justice Thomas has not recused himself from the Arizona case or any other matter before the court involving the Jan. 6 committee.

In her filing to the Supreme Court, Ward's lawyers argued that the committee's request was a "first-of-its-kind situation," involving a state party leader being subpoenaed by a congressional panel made up primarily of members of the opposing party.

"If Dr. Ward's telephone and text message records are disclosed, congressional investigators are going to contact every person who communicated with her during and immediately after the tumult of the 2020 election," Ward's lawyers wrote. "There can be no greater chill on public participation in partisan politics than a call, visit, or subpoena, from federal investigators."

House lawyers argued that Ward played a pivotal roll in the events leading up to Jan. 6.

"The false narrative of a stolen election motivated violence on January 6th, and publicly available evidence shows that Dr. Ward played an important role in many of these actions," House lawyers said.

The bipartisan House Select Committee has conducted over 1,000 interviews and held nine public hearings this year. It has issued subpoenas to several high-ranking Republicans, including South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and former President Donald Trump.