The far-right congressman is invoking a constitutional clause that allows him to block access to his phone
Scott Perry, the far-right House Freedom Caucus chairman, is in a legal battle with the justice department for his work with Donald Trump allies to overturn the 2020 election results.
Perry, a congressman from Pennsylvania whose belated vote and those of caucus allies helped elect Kevin McCarthy as speaker, has been waging a legal fight for months to block the Department of Justice (DoJ) from accessing his cellphone, which was seized last August as part of the DoJ’s sprawling January 6 inquiry and Trump’s efforts to thwart Joe Biden’s election with false fraud claims. A federal appeals court in DC is slated to hear arguments about accessing Perry’s phone on Thursday.
The legal dustup between Perry and the DoJ involves the US constitution’s speech or debate clause, which Perry has cited to stop the department from accessing his phone. The clause typically protects members’ legislative work from legal scrutiny, but does not protect potential criminal actions involving non-legislative matters, say ex-prosecutors.
Perry, whose lawyer has said the DoJ informed Perry he was not a target after his phone was seized, was perhaps Trump’s most zealous House ally when he sought to overturn his loss with baseless charges that the election was rigged.
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