Article originally appeared on thefederalist.com.
A federal judge opened the door for FBI bureaucrats under Attorney General Merrick Garland to comb through the protected communications of a sitting member of Congress as part of a politicized investigation.
On Friday, U.S. District Court Chief Judge Beryl Howell unsealed a Dec. 28 decision, giving the go-ahead for the FBI to review more than 2,000 messages stored on the cell phone of Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa. The device was confiscated as part of the FBI’s partisan investigation into the 2020 election last summer while the conservative chairman of the House Freedom Caucus was traveling with his family.
Perry, a six-term lawmaker who voted to delay President Joe Biden’s electoral certification in 2021, claimed his phone records are protected under the Constitution’s speech and debate clause, which gives lawmakers immunity from executive intimidation by politicized investigations. Perry argued his records were …
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