A secret legal fight over Rep. Scott Perry’s (R-Pa.) phone has prevented the Justice Department from reviewing more than 2,200 documents for more than six months in the criminal investigation of efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, a federal judge disclosed Friday evening.
Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell of Washington, D.C., released a series of previously sealed opinions after finding that the “powerful public interest” in the constitutional battle over Perry’s claims and the probe into whether President Donald Trump and his supporters violated criminal laws outweighed the need for secrecy.
The Pennsylvania Republican has asserted that 2,219 documents contained on his phone are shielded by the Constitution’s “speech or debate” clause, which grants members of Congress immunity from criminal investigation. But in a December ruling, Howell rejected that claim for more than 90 percent of the records, ordering Perry to turn over 2,055 texts, emails and attachments after finding they were only incidentally related to his status as a lawmaker, not core and constitutionally protected actions of lawmaking.
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