Bill Hagerty
Role at the time: U.S. senator from Tennessee, in a complaint to the Board of Professional Responsibility of the Supreme Court of Tennessee
Statement summary
Sen. Bill Hagerty filed a complaint with Tennessee's Board of Professional Responsibility saying Jack Smith obtained a nondisclosure order for a Verizon subpoena of Hagerty's and other senators' call records without telling the court the records belonged to members of Congress or citing the Speech or Debate Clause or a federal law on Senate data. He wrote that the order kept him from moving to quash the subpoena and asked the board to pursue disbarment.
“Mr. Smith violated the Rules of Professional Conduct by seeking and obtaining a nondisclosure order from a federal district court without advising the court of critical facts and law. The impact of his lack of candor was a violation of federal law, and an invasion of the very constitutional privileges that ensure a fully free legislative process.”
Why we used this label
Relative to whether members' phone records were properly obtained, Hagerty says Smith's nondisclosure order was obtained without disclosing critical facts and law, violated federal law and invaded constitutional legislative privileges. That rejects how the records were obtained, so we labeled it Condemned.