A federal appeals court blocked former Arizona Republican Party Chairwoman Kelli Ward’s attempt to block a subpoena of her phone records requested by the House select committee investigating the events of Jan. 6, 2021.
In a 2-1 decision from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, the subpoena of Ward’s phone records from Nov. 1, 2020, to Jan. 31, 2021, from T-Mobile may now carry through. The GOP Senate candidate in Arizona previously argued that the subpoena violated her First Amendment rights and infringed on her duties as chairperson of the state party.
Judges Barry Silverman and Eric Miller said in Saturday’s ruling that Ward’s concerns were not strong enough to prevent the subpoena. They wrote that the phone records will not disrupt protected association activity and that the subpoena “does not target any organization or association.”
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“The investigation, after all, is not about Ward’s politics; it is about her involvement in the events leading up to the January 6 attack, and it seeks to uncover those with whom she communicated in connection with those events,” the two judges wrote. “That some of the people with whom Ward communicated may be members of a political party does not establish that the subpoena is likely to reveal ‘sensitive information about [the party’s] members and supporters.'”
Judge Sandra Ikuta, who broke with her colleagues and sought to dismiss the subpoena, wrote in her dissenting opinion that the committee has not provided any reasoning as to why the phone records are relevant to their investigation.
Ward used her phone to contact people within her party while the 2020 election was “in dispute,” Ikuta wrote. Despite the majority judges’ ruling, she said, it was her opinion that the only reason for the subpoena is to target an association and reveal information about other Arizona GOP members.
“Moreover, because the Committee is ‘no longer seeking… [Ward’s] patient phone numbers,’ and it is unlikely that the duration of Ward’s calls with her children and parents, would provide the Committee with useful information about the events surrounding January 6, the only plausible explanation for the Committee’s interest in Ward’s phone records is that they reveal information about other Party members.”
She added that identifying information could “expose these members to congressional investigation, perhaps criminal investigation, and related public criticism.”
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Ward’s request to dismiss the subpoena was initially thrown out in September by U.S. District Judge Diane Humetewa, who stated the committee had legitimate reasons for requesting phone records from Nov. 1, 2020, to Jan. 31, 2021 — a “plainly relevant” time frame to the investigation. Ward also stated that she believed the subpoena is a means to harass political opponents of the committee, a claim Humetewa called highly speculative.
Ward could next take her challenge to a larger 9th Circuit Court of Appeals panel or seek relief from the Supreme Court, according to Politico.
