Smith’s Congressional Snooping May Have Violated Constitution’s Most Important Principles

Was Special Counsel Jack Smith’s prosecution of President Trump a “runaway train with no brakes”?

That’s the phrase used by Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) as he revealed that Smith obtained text messages to and from 44 lawmakers — including some Democrats — as part of his prosecution of the president. The National Archives turned over the texts to Smith in August 2023. The nonagenarian Mr. Grassley declares that Mr. Smith “ran roughshod over the Constitution.”

Violating America’s charter is the accusation that Smith levied at Trump, whom he charged with an obscure crime called “conspiracy against rights.” That civil-rights statute was first passed in the 1870s to combat the Klu Klux Klan. Smith argued Trump’s shenanigans in the wake of the 2020 election amounted to an effort to deprive Americans of their right to vote.