Federal judge upholds January 6 Committee subpoena for RNC records News
© WikiMedia (Tyler Merbler)
Federal judge upholds January 6 Committee subpoena for RNC records

US District Judge Timothy Kelly for the US District Court for the District of Columbia Sunday dismissed a request by the Republican National Committee (RNC) to block a subpoena asking its email vendor to release records involving the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. The House committee investigating the attack made the subpoena request.

The committee made the subpoena request on February 23, 2022 to Salesforce, Inc. Salesforce is the email vendor for the RNC and organizes donor information. The RNC sued the committee on March 9 to stop the subpoena. The RNC alleged that the subpoena request was “overbroad” and “unauthorized.” Judge Kelly, a Trump appointee, ruled that the committee has proper authorization and has demonstrated a need for the data on the fundraising emails. Judge Kelly ruled that the committee “seeks reasonably relevant information.” The ruling also bars Salesforce from releasing records until May 5 to allow time for an appeal.

The House established the January 6 Committee on June 30, 2021 with House Resolution 503. Representative Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS) is the Chairman of the committee, and Representative Liz Cheney (R-WY) is the Vice Chair. The committee announced Sunday that it was requesting information from additional House members who were involved with or had knowledge of the events leading up to the riot.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Georgia became first US state to ban lynching

On December 20, 1893, Georgia became the first state in the Union to pass a law against lynching, making the act punishable by four years in prison. The statute was not particularly effective—read the text of the 1899 pamphlet Lynch Law in Georgia by anti-lynching activist Ida Wells-Barnett.