Jack Smith’s bid for access to Rep. Scott Perry’s phone faces a court setback.
Special Counsel Jack Smith Faces Obstacles in Accessing Seized Cellphone Data from Rep. Scott Perry
In a recent development, a federal appeals court has partially impeded Special Counsel Jack Smith’s efforts to access seized cellphone data from Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA). This data is crucial to the ongoing investigation into Donald Trump and potential interference in the 2020 election.
A three-judge panel on the U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Columbia overruled part of a lower court’s decision, which would have granted Smith’s team access to a significant portion of the data sought from Perry’s phone. The details of this ruling remain under seal as of Tuesday afternoon.
Last year in August, federal investigators seized Perry’s phone, coinciding with the FBI raid on former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home. The lower court ruling initially allowed the Justice Department access to approximately 2,200 texts, emails, and attachments from Perry’s phone. These communications were being investigated for potential attempts by Trump and his allies to undermine the 2020 election.
Reports suggest that Perry was linked to Trump’s efforts to appoint an acting attorney general as part of his push for investigations into alleged voter fraud during the 2020 election.
Perry’s counsel argued before the appellate judges that the lower court judge had exceeded her authority by granting the federal government access to Perry’s phone. They contended that members of Congress are protected by the Constitution’s “speech or debate” clause.
The Department of Justice, on the other hand, argued that extending the speech or debate protection too broadly could shield members of Congress from almost any investigation, providing them with excessive protection.
Perry appealed the lower court’s ruling in December, leading to months of deliberation by the appeals court. The sealed ruling, spanning 29 pages, was formulated by a three-judge panel consisting of Neomi Rao, a Trump appointee who wrote the main opinion, Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson, nominated by President George H.W. Bush, and Judge Greg Katsas, also a Trump appointee.
Initially, Judge Beryl Howell had determined that Perry’s communications with the executive branch, in his efforts to investigate alleged election fraud, were not protected by speech or debate immunity.
Perry accused the DOJ of launching a partisan effort against him when his cellphone was seized in August while he was on vacation with his family. He highlighted the timing of the raid on Trump’s home, which occurred just days before. The seizure took place months before Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Jack Smith to oversee the Trump investigation, resulting in four charges against the former president.
Perry filed a civil complaint against the DOJ to prevent them from searching his phone but dropped the lawsuit in October.
Smith’s team now has the option to appeal Tuesday’s order to the Supreme Court. The three-judge panel has given both parties a week to indicate if any parts of the ruling should remain under seal.
Perry received support from House Republicans in an amicus brief, which is also under seal.
The Washington Examiner reached out to attorneys representing Perry and the special counsel’s office for further comments.
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