Topline
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on Monday temporarily halted a lower court ruling requiring Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) to testify in a Georgia grand jury investigation into the 2020 election, as Graham seeks to avoid participating in a probe of former President Donald Trump and his allies’ post-election behavior.
WASHINGTON, DC – SEPTEMBER 30: Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Sen. Lindsey Graham … [+]
Key Facts
Monday’s stay from Thomas—who oversees emergency requests from the 11th Circuit—only temporarily blocks Graham’s testimony while waiting for the rest of the court to reach a decision, and it is not a ruling on the merits of Graham’s case.
Graham on Friday asked the high court to reverse a ruling issued Thursday by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals denying his request to sit out the testimony in Fulton County, Georgia, which his attorney said could happen within the next month.
Graham and his attorneys have repeatedly claimed he is protected from testifying under the Constitution’s “speech or debate clause” that prevents members of Congress from facing criminal or civil lawsuits related to their legislative work.
Graham’s office, in a statement released Friday, cast the request to the Supreme Court as an attempt to “defend the Constitution” and said his testimony would compromise the “institutional interest” of the Senate and “significantly impact the ability of senators to gather information in connection with doing their job.”
U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May rejected Graham’s argument in a series of earlier rulings ordering him to testify, and said prosecutors could ask about his communications and coordination with Trump’s team after the election, along with Graham’s public statements related to the election, but could not question him about activities that amounted to “investigatory fact-finding.”
Key Background
The Georgia investigation,led by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D), is looking into Trump’s attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia and whether the scheme amounts to possible racketeering, conspiracy or other criminal charges. The probe was launched shortly after Trump asked Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) in a January 2021 phone call to “find” enough votes to reverse President Joe Biden’s win, something Raffensperger has discussed publicly and detailed in his book about Trump’s efforts to invalidate the election results. Raffensperger has also said he received a call from Graham after the 2020 race asking whether he can throw out ballots. Graham has denied the claim as “ridiculous” and said he called Raffensperger to ask about possible voter fraud before he voted to certify the results of the election. Graham’s legal team has said he is a witness and not a target of the Georgia investigation. Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani unsuccessfully sought to delay his testimony in the probe, and a second Trump attorney, John Eastman, invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when he was called before the grand jury. Both are thought to be targets of the investigation.
Crucial Quote
“As the Court has previously stated, any such ‘cajoling,’ ‘exhorting,’ or pressuring of Secretary Raffensperger (or any other Georgia election officials) to throw out ballots or otherwise change Georgia’s election processes, including changing processes so as to alter the state’s results, is not protected legislative activity under the Speech or Debate Clause,” Martin May wrote in September in a dismissal of Graham’s primary argument against testifying, according to the New York Times.
Big Number
11,780. The number of votes Trump allegedly asked Raffensperger to “find” to help him reverse the results in Georgia.
Further Reading
Graham asks Supreme Court to intervene after election ruling (Associated Press)
Lindsey Graham’s one-man voting probe prompts confusion (The Washington Post)
Judge Denies Lindsey Graham’s Effort To Quash Subpoena In Election Interference Probe, Again (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2022/10/24/clarence-thomas-halts-order-for-lindsey-graham-to-testify-in-georgia-election-case-for-now/