Jack Smith just got shot down once again, and things continue to not look good for the special counsel. In what could be viewed as a controversial decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit blocked Smith’s ability to gain access to phone records belonging to Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.).
The court ruled that allowing Smith to obtain this information was a breach of Perry’s immunity under the Constitution’s “speech and debate” clause.
This ruling throws up a large roadblock for Smith as he continues his investigation into the Jan 6 riot at the US Capitol Building two-and-a-half years ago.
The “speech and debate” clause is designed to protect members of Congress from being subjected to legal proceedings while they are engaging in their elected official duties.
According to U.S District Judge Neomi Rao, who wrote an opinion on last week’s ruling: “While elections are political events, a member’s deliberation about whether to certify a presidential election or how to assess information relevant to legislation about federal election procedures are textbook legislative acts.”
The three judge panel overturned an earlier lower court decision by U.S District Judge Beryl Howell which had mostly sided with Smith’s request for access to Perry’s cellphone data.
The appeals court sent these cases back Howell’s courtroom and instructed her apply the new ruling when making any future decisions in this case accordingly.
Fox News host Jesse Watters recently criticized Jack Smith during one of his segments on “The Five” after he indicted former President Donald Trump in two separate cases that included willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, false statements and more recently charges against Carlos De Oliveira – a maintenance worker at Mar-a-Lago.
Watters made it clear that he felt these charges were outlandishly obscure calling them “not bribery, not assault, not tax evasion, not sex trafficking” but rather “charging Donald Trump under the Act of 1866”.
He further went on state that “the Biden Justice Department is using obscure federal statutes put a former president in prison for rest his life”.
It should be noted that Watters was referring back Smith prosecuting then Republican Governor Bob McDowell over receiving gifts with Supreme Court unanimously throwing out due to its weak case.
