Marsha Blackburn’s Lawsuit Hits A Wall As All Local Judges Recuse
Sen. Marsha Blackburn wanted a federal judge in Tennessee to hear her case against Jack Smith. That was the plan. Then the court issued a stunning order that stopped everything in its tracks. Every single federal judge in that district has stepped aside. They all recused themselves from the matter. This leaves the case without a judge in the state where it started.
The reason for this mass exit is clear. Jack Smith worked in that same district as a prosecutor not long ago. He served as First Assistant U.S. Attorney from 2015 to 2017. Many judges on the bench knew him from those days. Others arrived after he left. The court says they cannot be impartial now. So the case moves to a judge from outside Tennessee.
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
An official court statement explained the situation in plain terms. “All District Judges of the Middle District of Tennessee have recused in this matter,” the filing read. The text went on to describe the next steps. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals will designate a District Judge from outside the District as such. Upon making the designation, the case will be reassigned. This means the legal fight will pause until a new judge is picked. No one in Tennessee will touch this file.
The lawsuit itself targets Smith’s actions as special counsel. Sen. Blackburn argues his appointment was illegal. She says he was never confirmed by the Senate. She also claims his team broke the law by seizing phone records. The filing states he subpoenaed a sitting senator’s tolling records in secret. This is a direct challenge to how the Justice Department operated under the Biden administration.
RedState reported on the details of this strange turn of events. The outlet notes that Smith’s past work created a conflict. The court rules suggest that personal ties matter. If a judge knew the prosecutor, they cannot judge the case. This rule protects the fairness of the system. But it also delays the outcome for Sen. Blackburn. She wanted justice fast. Now she must wait for a stranger to take the bench.
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, the investigation into Smith’s conduct goes deeper. Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley released documents last week. These papers show Smith’s team grabbed data from 17 news outlets. They tapped into nearly 50 journalists’ communications. “Jack Smith’s operation was a runaway political train that improperly obtained congressional information,” Grassley said. The records show he also seized text messages from over 40 members of Congress. This includes the chair himself.
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals must now act. They have to pick a judge from a different district. This process takes time. There is no date set for the reassignment. Sen. Blackburn’s team argues the whole thing was unconstitutional. They say Smith blew past legal limits. “This lawsuit is solely about holding Mr. Smith accountable and ensuring that our nation’s justice system can never again be weaponized against the American people,” her filing states. The court has not yet ruled on that claim. It simply said the local judges cannot hear it.
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 case remains in limbo. The local bench is empty of anyone who can rule. The Sixth Circuit must find a new face for the job. Until then, the lawsuit sits on hold. The records show Smith obtained data he should not have. The judges in Tennessee will not be the ones to decide the fate of that data. A new judge from outside the state will have that power. The system works slowly when the local judges know the man on trial.