Something Really Strange Just Happened to Marsha Blackburn's Lawsuit Against Jack Smith

Former Special Counsel Jack Smith has been the focus of a lot of ire as the shady details of his lawfare operation against Donald Trump have come to light.

As RedState's Teri Christoph covered on Monday, it has become abundantly clear that Smith was dispatched to target the Biden regime's "enemies list."

Newly declassified FBI records, released Monday by the White House Government Transparency Task Force, show that Smith and his team were tracking the phone activity of Susie Wiles – who was at the time a top Trump adviser and is now the White House chief of staff – including her contacts with at least 21 attorneys affiliated with Trump.

One particular memo from March 24, 2023, shows just how insidious the Smith investigation got – and just how far the investigation spread outside of its original scope. An FBI agent noted in that memo that an attorney associated with Trump had called Wiles and remained on the phone with her for only 41 seconds. The agent then documents two previous calls between Wiles and the attorney, including the exact times of the calls and their durations.

After Wiles sat for an FBI interview on April 7, Smith and his investigators went back through her phone activity specifically to identify what they described as "contacts of interest on the date of her FBI interview."

This is absolutely chilling. It makes Richard Nixon's Watergate look like a day at the water park. 

Instead of legacy media screaming about Smith's surveillance, we get hysterics about the White House putting them on pool probation for endless hoaxes. Cry us a river.

Now, we get to the really weird part. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) has moved to hold Smith accountable for his actions. Just one problem: Not a single federal judge in the district will sit for the case. 

That's because they all apparently know Smith personally, which raises questions as to whether they can be "impartial" when it comes to trying the case. 

Smith served as First Assistant U.S. Attorney and then Acting U.S. Attorney in the Middle District of Tennessee from 2015 until 2017. Some members of the current bench were serving there during that period, while others arrived after Smith left.

Her lawsuit argues that Biden Attorney General Merrick Garland's original appointment of Smith as special counsel was unconstitutional because Smith was not presidentially appointed and Senate-confirmed and because Congress never enacted a statute authorizing Garland to appoint him to exercise those powers.

She also alleges violations of the Speech or Debate Clause, her First Amendment right of association, and her Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. The complaint further accuses Smith and other government officials of conspiring to violate her civil rights because of her political affiliation and support for Trump.

"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," Blackburn said when announcing the case.

She is seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, the return or destruction of the records obtained during the investigation, and nominal damages.

Now, before any of those arguments can be resolved, the case needs a judge. 

Chief U.S. District Judge William L. Campbell Jr. issued a remarkably short order Monday announcing that it is not going to be so easy to resolve.

"All District Judges of the Middle District of Tennessee have recused in this matter," Campbell wrote. "As such, a District Judge from outside the District will be designated by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. When the designation is made, the case will be reassigned."

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

That's the whole explanation. The one-page order doesn't say why every judge recused, doesn't identify a conflict, and doesn't suggest any misconduct. It simply announces that nobody on the district's bench will hear Blackburn's case against Smith.

That's what is so mysterious about it. And it's what is fueling a lot of speculation online about why these judges are backing away from the case like it's radioactive.

But at the end of the day, it is reasonable that judges would recuse themselves from cases involving someone they know so well. The problem is that it looks on its face like they are dodging a case involving one of their pals.

That's because we have judges like Jeb Boasberg in Washington, D.C., who pounce on every case involving a Republican politician. Such recusals only seem to go in one direction — benefiting Democrats.

It's all one big club, and nobody with any moral decency appears to be in it.

Editor's Note: Unelected federal judges are obstructing President Trump's agenda and ignoring the will of the people.

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