9th Circuit rules Jan. 6 committee is entitled to Kelli Ward's phone records
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the chair of the Arizona Republican Party is not entitled to keep the information of her phone records from the Jan. 6 committee.
Two of the three judges on the panel said it is unlikely that chair Kelli Ward’s arguments that the subpoena violates her First Amendment rights will be successful.
Furthermore, they said the demand for the numbers of who Ward texted and those she received are substantially related to the interest of investigating the causes of the attack on the Capitol.
The decision came only a few days after that same court enjoined disclosure of the records until it had a sufficient change to review the legal issues.
One judge dissented with the ruling and sided with Ward’s arguments that the production of the records would reveal private information of members of the Republican Party she had contact with.
The move could leave Ward with asking the U.S. Supreme Court to rule. However, so far judges have sided with the committee’s claims that it needs her phone records soon.
