The January 6th Committee, which is supposedly very concerned about “protecting democracy”, continues to trample over the Constitutional rights of anyone in its crosshairs. Last week, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Oh.) correctly pointed out that Democrats have ‘weaponized‘ the government against their political enemies. “Adam Schiff did what other Democrats do. We saw the lawyer when they spied on Trump’s campaign alter evidence there he took to the FISA Court to get that warrant. So this is nothing new with the left. But it’s scary because it’s the weaponization of government against their political enemies and that is as wrong as it gets.”
While some ‘Republicans’ such as Liz Cheney have succumbed to this assault on our Constitutional rights, or even encouraged it, others are pushing back. Photojournalist Amy Harris has sued the Janaury 6th Committee for violating her first amendment rights by demanding her phone records. The DC Patriot Reports–
The Select Committee issued a subpoena to Harris’ cell phone provider, Verizon, for records of calls and texts she received and made in the three months prior to January 31, 2020.. Verizon said it had planned to comply with the subpoena unless Harris took legal action, which she did.
On December 15 Harris sued the committee for issuing the subpoena over its demands for her telephone records, and arguing that her communications are protected by the First Amendment, common law, and the District of Columbia’s shield law.
Harris’ lawsuit argues that not only does this subpoena violate her First Amendment rights; it also violates other laws that protect journalists from revealing confidential sources, according to a Washington Post report.
“Demanding journalists’ telephone records reveal confidential sources from third parties is tantamount to demanding the records from the journalists themselves. A journalist’s promise to maintain confidentiality would be meaningless if a source’s identity could be discovered,” part of her complaint argues.
The lawsuit reads, “The subpoena violates the core protections afforded to journalists pursuant to the First Amendment. “Furthermore, it seeks to undermine these fundamental protections without affording Harris fair notice and opportunity to challenge its legality by demanding the records be turned over just two weeks after the subpoena was issued.”
