Not a single federal judge within the Middle District of Tennessee will preside over Senator Marsha Blackburn’s legal action against former special counsel Jack Smith. This rare development ensures that no local jurist will adjudicate the suit, which contends Smith violated the law. According to the court filing, every District Judge in the Middle District of Tennessee has recused themselves from this specific matter.
According to RedState, the mass withdrawal stems from Smith’s tenure as a prosecutor in that very district between 2015 and 2017. Since numerous current judges worked alongside him during that period, questions regarding their impartiality have arisen. The filing indicates that consequently, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals will appoint a District Judge from a different district.
NEW: Every federal judge in the Middle District of Tennessee has recused from Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s lawsuit against former Special Counsel Jack Smith. The Sixth Circuit will now designate an outside district judge to hear the case. https://t.co/cIV8vwNVuh
— SCOTUS Wire (@scotus_wire) October 5, 2026
Senator Blackburn initiated her lawsuit on Wednesday to demand accountability from Smith. She asserts that his appointment by Attorney General Merrick Garland violated the Constitution due to the lack of Senate confirmation. Her legal filing contends that Smith blew through constitutional stop signs while investigating President Trump and his associates.
The lawsuit outlines how Smith covertly obtained cell phone records for the sitting senator. Blackburn claims Smith neglected to inform the presiding judge that the subpoenas were directed at a member of Congress. Margaret Harker, a senior litigation counsel, noted that Smith subpoenaed a sitting senator’s tolling records in secret, a blatant violation of the Speech or Debate Clause.
BREAKING: Statement From Sean Davis, CEO and Co-Founder of The Federalist:
Corrupt cop Jack Smith spied on The Federalist and accessed our communications during his lawless anti-Trump witch hunt. We are still working to determine which of our reporters were targeted by Jack Smith and which journalistic communications he and his thugs seized.
The latest facts about Jack Smith’s illegal jihad were released by Sen. Charles Grassley during a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on Tuesday.
The Federalist’s team of investigative reporters exposed the Russian collusion hoax. We exposed the Kavanaugh hoax. We exposed the Ukraine impeachment hoax. And The Federalist’s Editor-in-Chief Mollie Hemingway wrote the definitive account of how Democrats seized control of election infrastructure and destroyed the integrity of American elections in 2020.
For over a decade, The Federalist has fearlessly exposed Deep State corruption and DOJ lies and lawfare. Spying on us was apparently part of Jack Smith’s plot to get revenge against us.
The First Amendment is the bedrock of the American Constitution. A free press is integral to the American republic and our entire way of life. And Jack Smith fed the whole thing through a shredder in his insane and illegal attempt to rig the 2024 elections through lawfare, intimidation, and unconstitutional attacks on free speech and the First Amendment.
As shocking as this news may be to some, I am not surprised to learn of this behavior by Jack Smith and the Biden administration. At the direction of the Biden administration, the federal government illegally censored The Federalist, tried to bankrupt us, and was eventually forced to admit it had zero legal authority to do any of it.
We took these thugs to court and won when we learned of their illegal censorship efforts, and we will explore all legal options going forward to deal with Jack Smith’s lawless and un-American attempts to silence us by spying on us.
Nobody in corporate media said a word in our defense when we were illegally censored. Outlets like CNN and the New York Times, which posture as First Amendment purists, had nothing to say about the Biden administration’s illegal attempts to punish us for our rigorous and accurate journalism.
I have zero doubt that they will be similarly silent today, because they are partisan hacks who supported Jack Smith’s egregious lawfare every step of the way.
Unlike corrupt corporate media, The Federalist will always fearlessly and accurately report the news, even in the face of never-ending Democrat assaults on the First Amendment, free speech, and freedom of the press.
We will never back down, and we will never stop reporting the facts and defending the greatest nation and greatest people on earth. Hillary Clinton couldn’t stop us, Joe Biden couldn’t stop us, and Jack Smith’s corrupt thuggery won’t stop us.
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) September 29, 2026
Per The Federalist, fresh documents reveal Smith’s team also seized communications from 17 news organizations and almost 50 journalists. Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley released data showing the operation acquired nearly 5,000 checks written by Trump donors. Grassley stated the prosecutor’s team secretly captured text messages from over 40 members of Congress, himself included.
Grassley characterized the breadth of the investigation in a forceful statement to the committee. He remarked that Jack Smith’s operation was a runaway political train that improperly obtained congressional information. The documents show Smith’s investigators monitored phone activity for top Trump adviser Susie Wiles, including calls with 21 distinct attorneys.
I’m sickened by this news that my journalistic communications were obtained as part of Jack Smith’s egregious misconduct.
Proud to have been one of the only journalists who debunked his agency’s role in perpetrating the Russia collusion lie against the American people.
No amount of censorship or spying will prevent @FDRLST from continuing our fearless investigative journalism.
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) September 29, 2026
The proceedings will remain stalled until the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals selects an external judge. Once a new jurist is appointed, the case will be reassigned, allowing the legal process to resume. Blackburn’s legal team maintains that the entire operation constituted a political assault rather than a valid legal undertaking.
Blackburn’s remarks to the media highlighted the objective of her legal challenge. The court has not yet established a timeline for the new judge’s appointment.
Until the Sixth Circuit finalizes its choice, the lawsuit remains in a state of suspension.
