Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C) must answer questions from the Georgia grand jury investigating efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state, the Supreme Court says.
Graham filed an emergency request to the Supreme Court late last month to block the subpoena from the grand jury. He argued that his actions during the call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, were protected by the Speech or Debate Clause of the US Constitution.
Graham called Raffensperger ten days after the 2020 presidential election and asked him whether he had the power to toss out all mail ballots in certain counties. Raffensperger told the Washington Post that Graham appeared to be asking him to improperly toss out legally cast ballots.
Graham argued in court filings that investigating irregularities in the 2020 election is part of his duties as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
After granting a brief stay to allow prosecutors enough time to respond, the Supreme court decided to uphold a lower court order ordering Graham to testify.
However, there are limitations to the types of questions prosecutors can ask Graham.
Georgia prosecutors cannot ask Graham about his conduct related to any fact-finding he was doing about whether to vote to certify the 2020 election results. Graham can raise any issues he may have when he’s testifying if there is a dispute over whether prosecutors’ questions about his calls are related to his role as a senator.
Prosecutors can ask Graham about “non-legislative activities.” These include “(C)ommunications 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.”
Now that he has exhausted all his legal options, Graham’s testimony will likely go ahead on November 17 as scheduled.
