Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas ruled on Monday to temporarily protect Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina from having to testify before a Georgia Grand Jury amid an election investigation.
The justice's brief order was an "administrative stay" that was meant to give some breathing room for the court to weigh the senator's emergency application. Graham has asked the Supreme Court to bar the grand jury from questioning him regarding the issues.
Block of Lindsey Graham's Subpoena
Thomas, who oversees the appeals court whose ruling is at issue, ordered prosecutors on Saturday to respond to the application with a deadline set for Thursday. Such a request is almost always a sign that the full court will weigh in on the matter.
On the other hand, prosecutors appeared to be particularly interested in any efforts that Graham may have made to urge officials in Georgia, including Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, to address allegations of voting irregularities before Congress was set to vote in January 2021 to certify that Joe Biden was the legitimate winner in the presidential race against Donald Trump, as per the New York Times.
Graham's lawyers argued that the official was reviewing election-related issues in his role as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee at the time. A unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, in Atlanta, refused to block a trial judge's ruling that the South Carolina lawmaker could be required to answer some but not all questions from the grand jury.
The panel based its decision on the Constitution's protection of members of Congress in its "speech or debate" clause. The clause says that for any speech or debate in either house, they shall not be questioned in any other place.
According to CNN, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is the one leading a special grand jury investigation into former President Trump's alleged efforts to manipulate the results of the 2020 election in Georgia. The Democrat indicated that she wanted to question Graham on calls that the lawmaker made to Georgia election officials after the election.
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Attempts to Overturn Georgia Election Results
A spokesperson for Fulton County declined to comment regarding the Supreme Court justice's ruling to pause the subpoena. The situation comes as lower courts argued that, to the extent, Graham was making the calls, that could be out of bounds under the Constitution.
However, the 11th U.S. Circuit of Appeals said that "communications and coordination with the Trump campaign regarding its post-election efforts in Georgia, public statements regarding the 2020 election, and efforts to 'cajole' or 'exhort' Georgia election officials" are not considered legislative activities that are protected by the clause.
Trump allegedly pressured state officials to take actions that could have overturned Biden's win in Georgia, similar to what he is believed to have done in other swing states where the Republican lost to the Democrat.
During a phone call in early January 2021, Trump allegedly urged Raffensperger to "find" enough votes to erase Biden's margin of victory in Georgia and give him the win, CNBC reported.
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