NEW: GOP Senator Sues Jack Smith For Accessing Her Phone Records

U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) on Wednesday filed a civil complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee against former special counsel Jack Smith and the U.S. Department of Justice.

The complaint challenges Smith’s November 2022 appointment by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland and the May 25, 2023, grand-jury subpoena of Blackburn’s Verizon cell-phone toll records during the Arctic Frost investigation. Arctic Frost was an FBI investigation, later overseen by Smith’s office, into President Donald Trump’s objections to the 2020 election, as well as the January 6 Capitol protests.

The complaint states that then-President Joe Biden did not nominate Smith and that the Senate did not confirm him. It asks the court to declare the appointment unlawful under the Constitution’s Appointments Clause.

According to the filing, the subpoena sought toll records showing whom Blackburn contacted, when, and for how long. It did not seek the contents of conversations. The period covered included days around January 4–7, 2021.

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Jack Smith went after me and thousands of other Americans for simply supporting President Trump.

Today, I’m filing suit to hold him personally accountable for his egregious and unlawful actions.https://t.co/w6A6eODsOW

— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) September 30, 2026

Smith’s office also obtained a non-disclosure order that barred Verizon from notifying Blackburn.

The complaint alleges the application for that order did not inform the presiding judge that the records belonged to a sitting U.S. senator. Blackburn states she first learned of the seizure on October 6, 2025, after congressional oversight disclosures. The subpoena was issued just over a month after she endorsed Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign in April 2023.

The complaint contends the seizure violated the Speech or Debate Clause, the First Amendment right of association, the Fourth Amendment, and 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3). It further alleges that the Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Section had flagged D.C. Circuit precedent treating the Speech or Debate Clause bar on compelled disclosure of legislative communications as absolute, but that Smith’s office proceeded after assessing litigation risk as low.

Smith later testified before Congress that he approved the subpoenas and understood the non-disclosure order meant the senators “didn’t have an opportunity to litigate the Speech or Debate concerns.”

The complaint further alleges that Smith’s office subpoenaed toll records of at least 20 members of Congress, all Republicans, and expansive records involving about 400 Republican individuals and organizations. Public reporting and Senate Judiciary Committee disclosures have identified eight senators whose records were obtained, including Blackburn.

The complaint also states, on information and belief, that the investigation name “Arctic Frost,” described as a type of orange, “was chosen to mock Trump’s complexion.”

“Through his Arctic Frost witch hunt that targeted conservatives across America and even the President of the United States, Jack Smith perpetrated one of the worst abuses of government power in our nation’s history. This lawsuit is solely about holding Mr. Smith accountable and ensuring that our nation’s justice system can never again be weaponized against the American people,” Blackburn said in a difference.

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