Jan. 6 panel wins request for records

The Supreme Court has cleared the way for the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol 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. The court lifted a temporary order that had been put in place by Justice Elena Kagan that had paused anything from happening while Ward’s emergency request was at the Supreme Court.

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 Donald Trump’s 2020 election defeat.

As is common in situations involving emergency requests to the high court, the justices did not explain their reasoning in their three-sentence order. Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito said they would have sided with Ward but also did not elaborate.