Margot Cleveland is an attorney, legal commentator and senior legal correspondent for The Federalist. She is of counsel at the New Civil Liberties Alliance and previously served as a federal appellate law clerk. She received the Hoynes Prize at Notre Dame Law School and taught at Notre Dame for more than a decade.
DI has documented statements by Margot Cleveland on Government Transparency, January 6 Attack, and Law Enforcement, among other topics. Read the quotations, original sources and related cases below.
Statement dates: September 30, 2026
Statement dates: September 30, 2026
Statement dates: September 30, 2026
Statement dates: September 30, 2026
Statement dates: September 30, 2026
Role at the time: NCLA attorney
Statement summary
Cleveland argues that Smith knowingly disregarded legislative privilege because he expected little risk of litigation.
“They were wrong”
She condemns proceeding despite privilege concerns.
A participant is a subject of the case. A speaker has a statement documented in it. A commentator has an opinion or editorial documented in it.
Case
Relationship to this case: Speaker
Republicans say Jack Smith's team improperly obtained members of Congress's phone records and texts and used nondisclosure orders to hide it. Smith and Democrats say the toll records were approved and lawful; Smith says the texts came from White House phones. Member counts differ.
