Supreme Court Rules Against GOP Figure in Records Fight

Ruling allows House committee to access phone records of Arizona's Kelli Ward
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Nov 14, 2022 12:13 PM CST
Supreme Court Hands Jan. 6 Panel a Victory
Kelli Ward, chairperson of the Republican Party of Arizona, in a file photo.   (Randy Hoeft/Yuma Sun via AP)

The Supreme Court has cleared the way for the House committee investigating the Capitol riot to get phone records belonging to the leader of the Arizona Republican Party. The high court on Monday rejected GOP state chair Kelli Ward's request to halt the turnover of records while a lawsuit proceeds, per the AP. Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito said they would have sided with Ward.

Ward has said her First Amendment rights would be chilled if investigators were able to learn whom she spoke with while trying to challenge former President Trump’s 2020 election defeat. A federal appeals court panel previously ruled 2-1 against Ward and said the committee should get records of calls she made and received from just before the November 2020 election to Jan. 31, 2021. Kelli Ward and her husband, Michael Ward, were presidential electors who would have voted for Trump in the Electoral College had he won Arizona. Both signed a document claiming they were Arizona’s true electors, despite Biden’s victory in the state.

(More kelli ward stories.)

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