Appeals court OKs Jan. 6 panel subpoena to Arizona GOP chair

By BOB CHRISTIE
Associated Press

PHOENIX (AP) — A federal appeals court panel won’t block a subpoena issued by the U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection that seeks phone records of the Arizona Republican Party’s leader. The ruling issued over the weekend by a divided three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected First Amendment claims raised by state party Chair Kelli Ward. Her attorneys argue that her rights would be chilled if investigators were able to learn whom she spoke with while she was trying to challenge former President Donald Trump’s 2020 election defeat. One judge would have sided with Ward and blocked the subpoena.