January 6 Committee
Ward v. Thompson
Major Issue: Whether private parties can block a telecommunications firm from producing their telephone records in response to a congressional committee subpoena.
Case Status: Complete.
Case Description: On January 19, 2022, the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol issued a subpoena to telecommunications firm T-Mobile requesting telephone records from Nov. 1, 2020 to January 31, 2021, related to lines associated with Mole Medical, a privately held Arizona professional company. Kelli and Michael Ward, a married couple, are both medical doctors and work for Mole Medical. Both are also active in the Republican Party. At the time of the lawsuit, Kelli Ward chaired the Arizona Republican Party and had been a Republican nominee to serve as one of Arizona’s 2020 presidential electors. The committee subpoena requests metadata for the Mole Medical telephone lines during the specified period related to Kelli Ward (but not her husband or children) including call detail records on the incoming and outgoing calls, but does not request information on the content of any telephone call or text message. On February 1, 2022, the Wards and Mole Medical filed suit to invalidate the House subpoena and block T-Mobile from producing documents.
Procedural Posture: The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for Arizona where the Wards and Mole Medical reside. Arizona District Judge Diane Humetewa was assigned to the case. On Aug. 8, 2022, the House moved to dismiss the complaint. On Sept. 22, 2022, the District Court dismissed the lawsuit for lack of jurisdiction. On Oct. 7, 2022, the district court also dismissed the plaintiffs’ motion for a stay pending appeal. On appeal, in a 2-1 decision on Oct. 22, 2022, a Ninth Circuit panel of three judges affirmed the District Court ruling and denied a stay pending further appeal. On Oct. 24, 2022, the Wards and Mole Medical filed an emergency application with Supreme Court Elena Kagan requesting a stay of the case pending appeal. On Oct. 26, 2022, Justice Kagan granted a temporary stay and also ordered the House committee to file a response to the application by Oct. 28, 2022. On Nov. 14, 2022, the Supreme Court denied the Ward application for a stay, ending the litigation in the case.
District Court Proceedings
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Prescott Division of Arizona, where Kelli and Michael Ward and Mole Medical reside. Arizona District Judge Diane Humetewa was assigned to Case No. CV-22-08015-PCT-DJH. The Wards and Mole Medical filed suit against House committee chair Bennie Thompson, the House committee, and T-Mobile to invalidate the House subpoena and block T-Mobile from producing documents. On Aug. 8, 2022, the House moved to dismiss the complaint. On Sept. 22, 2022, Judge Humetewa denied the motion to quash the subpoena and granted the House motion to dismiss the lawsuit. The District Court opinion addressed a variety of claims made by the plaintiffs, including finding that the committee investigation had a valid legislative purpose and the court lacked jurisdiction over the matter in light of Congress’ sovereign immunity. On Oct. 7, 2022, the district court also dismissed the plaintiffs’ motion for a stay of its decision pending appeal. The plaintiffs filed an appeal with the Ninth Circuit.
- Ward complaint to quash the House subpoena to T-Mobile (2-1-2022)(19 pages)
- House motion to dismiss lawsuit (8-8-2022)(26 pages)
- Ward opposition to House motion to dismiss (8-22-2022)(19 pages)
- House reply supporting its motion to dismiss (8-29-2022)(16 pages)
- Arizona District Court order dismissing lawsuit (9-22-2022)(18 pages)
- Ward motion for injunction pending appeal (9-26-2022)(14 pages)
- House opposition for injunction pending appeal (9-29-2022)(10 pages)
- Ward reply supporting its motion for injunction pending appeal (10-2-2022)(10 pages)
- Arizona District Court order denying injunction pending appeal (10-7-2022)(8 pages)
Appeals Court Proceedings
In September 2022, the Wards and Mole Medical filed an appeal of the decision issued by the Arizona district court and requested an emergency injunction to stay any document production pending the appeal. A three-judge panel from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, with Judges Ikuta, Miller, and Silverman, was assigned to Case No. 22-16473. On Oct. 18, 2022, the panel granted a temporary stay pending further action by the court. On Oct. 22, 2022, in a 2-1 decision, the panel lifted the temporary stay, denied the plaintiffs’ motion for injunctive relief, and affirmed the District Court decision dismissing the lawsuit. Judge Ikuta filed a dissent. On Oct. 24, 2022, the plaintiffs filed an emergency application with the Supreme Court for a stay of the case pending appeal.
- Ward emergency motion for injunction pending appeal (10-10-2022)(112 pages)
- House opposition to Ward emergency motion (10-14-2022)(32 pages)
- Ward reply supporting its emergency motion (10-17-2022)(18 pages)
- Ninth Circuit order denying injunctive relief and dismissing lawsuit (10-22-2022)(17 pages)
Supreme Court Proceedings
On Oct. 24, 2022, the Wards and Mole Medical filed an emergency application with Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan to stay T-Mobile from producing any documents to the House pending further appeal of the case. On Oct. 26, Justice Kagan issued a temporary stay pending further action by the Court. Justice Kagan also ordered the House committee to file a response to the application by Oct. 28, 2022. On Nov. 14, 2022, the Supreme Court denied the Ward application for a stay, ending the litigation in the case.
- Ward emergency application to stay the case pending appeal (10-24-2022)(94 pages)
- Supreme Court Justice Kagan order granting a temporary stay (10-26-2022)(2 pages)
- House opposition to Ward application for Supreme Court stay (10-28-2022)(38 pages)
- Supreme Court order denying Ward application for a stay (11-14-2022)(1 page)
