JUST IN: Sen. Marsha Blackburn SUES Jack Smith for Unlawful Phone Record Seizure

NEW: Sen. Marsha Blackburn is suing Jack Smith and DOJ over the subpoena for her phone records.

She says it's a violation of the speech/debate clause — and she wants a court to order DOJ to destroy or return the records. https://t.co/F8JnVls7cP pic.twitter.com/1hsRZjcesp

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) September 30, 2026

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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

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Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) sued former special counsel Jack Smith Wednesday, alleging he unlawfully obtained her cellphone toll records during his investigation of Trump and the 2020 election

Why it matters: The lawsuit escalates Republicans’ efforts to challenge Smith’s investigation more than a year after his probe ended.

What they’re saying: “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,” Blackburn said.

• “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. I thank the New Civil Liberties Alliance for their partnership in filing this complaint and for fighting to uphold our cherished constitutional rights.”

Driving the news: The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee one day after Smith testified at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday.

• The suit alleges Smith obtained a nondisclosure order without telling the judge that the underlying subpoena sought the records of a sitting senator. Blackburn’s cellphone provider was ordered to keep the subpoena secret.
• Blackburn is asking the court to award her $1 in nominal damages to emphasize that she isn’t seeking money but instead wants to hold Smith accountable for his allegedly unlawful actions.
• Legal counsel for Smith did not immediately respond to Axios’ request for comment.

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The case opens a new legal front against Smith one day after his contentious Senate Judiciary Committee testimony, during which he acknowledged approving subpoenas for members of Congress despite understanding that nondisclosure orders prevented them from challenging the seizures under the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause.

Smith is a longtime prosecutor who most recently served as special counsel overseeing the Justice Department’s investigations into President Donald Trump. Earlier in his career, he prosecuted cases before the International Criminal Court and led the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section, which brought bribery charges against former Virginia Republican Gov. Robert F. McDonnell in a case where the Supreme Court later unanimously vacated the conviction.

Arctic Frost was the codename for the FBI investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents and alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election before the probe was handed over to Smith by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Blackburn and her data were swept up in the probe after Smith’s team subpoenaed toll records from her and several other Republicans—a move that sparked outrage at Tuesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing over whether obtaining the records without notification violated the Constitution.

In May 2023, Smith’s office issued a grand-jury subpoena seeking Verizon toll records, while a separate nondisclosure order barred the company from notifying affected customers—including Blackburn—that its information had been turned over.

While the records did not reveal the contents of conversations, they showed whom Blackburn communicated with, when and for how long, according to the complaint. The lawsuit alleges that Smith’s office obtained a court-approved nondisclosure order without informing the judge that the subpoena sought records belonging to a sitting U.S. senator.

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