Jack Smith Case Handed to Trump-Appointed Judge After Mass Recusal

A federal appeals court has assigned U.S. District Judge Douglas R. Cole, a Trump-appointed judge, to oversee Senator Marsha Blackburn's lawsuit against former special counsel Jack Smith. This comes after all active district judges in Middle Tennessee recused from the case, with the reassignment resolving an unusual procedural question that had hung over the lawsuit since October 5.

Blackburn filed the lawsuit on September 30, claiming that Smith unlawfully obtained her phone records and violated protections for members of Congress. Chief Judge Raymond M. Kethledge of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals designated Judge Cole to preside over the case. The recusals have not been publicly explained, and federal law does not specify which provisions prompted the Middle Tennessee judges to step aside.

Blackburn's lawsuit centers on phone toll records obtained during an investigation into events surrounding the 2020 presidential election certification. She alleges that investigators obtained records from a cellphone she used for legislative purposes and that a nondisclosure order prevented Verizon from alerting her to the subpoena.