Atlanta-area prosecutors on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to clear the way for Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) to face questioning before a grand jury as part of an investigation into 2020 election interference in Georgia.
In court papers, the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office urged the court to turn away Graham’s request that he be allowed to avoid testifying while he continues to contest his subpoena.
“Should the Senator’s application be granted, the Grand Jury’s work will be delayed indefinitely, ensuring that information which could either clear the innocent of suspicion or increase scrutiny on the guilty will continue to lie beyond the Grand Jury’s grasp,” Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) wrote in the court filing.
Graham filed his application last week to Justice Clarence Thomas, who handles emergency matters arising from Georgia and who agreed earlier this week to temporarily halt the legal proceedings until further notice.
Graham is one of several high-profile Trump allies who Willis has pursued as part of an investigation into the potentially criminal effort to disrupt the 2020 election in Georgia in favor of former President Trump.
Willis obtained a subpoena for Graham’s testimony in July. In court filings at that time, she indicated her interest in two phone calls Graham made in the weeks after the 2020 election to Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) and members of his staff, as well as any possibly related coordination that may have occurred between Graham and the Trump campaign.
“During the telephone calls, [Graham] questioned Secretary Raffensperger and his staff about reexamining certain absentee ballots cast in Georgia in order to explore the possibility of a more favorable outcome for former President Donald Trump,” Willis wrote in support of her request for the Graham subpoena.
Willis noted that Graham had also made references to the since-refuted claims of widespread voter fraud in Georgia that were also being peddled by members of the Trump campaign.
Raffensperger has said Graham suggested that Georgia could invalidate large numbers of mail-in ballots from certain areas. Graham has denied the assertion.
Trump, for his part, in a taped phone call with Raffensperger pressed the top Georgia election official to “find” the roughly 11,000 votes required to overturn Biden’s victory and declare Trump the winner. Raffensperger resisted Trump’s efforts and has rebutted his false claims of election fraud.
In late July, Graham received a subpoena ordering his appearance before the Fulton County grand jury the following month.
The South Carolina senator quickly sought relief in a Georgia-based federal court, requesting the subpoena be quashed. Among Graham’s claims was an assertion that the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause, which provides protections for lawmakers, should void the subpoena.
The case became quickly bogged down before an Atlanta-based federal judge in September ruled that Graham could be questioned about his phone calls with Georgia elections officials, within certain limits. Specifically, U.S. District Judge Leigh May, an Obama appointee, said Graham would be shielded from inquiries that bear on “protected legislative activity,” including Graham’s information-gathering inquiries about Georgia’s then-existing election procedures and allegations of voter fraud, but that questioning could otherwise proceed.
“As to the other categories, the Court finds that they are not legislative, and the Speech or Debate Clause does not apply to them,” May wrote. “As such, Senator Graham may be questioned about any alleged efforts to encourage Secretary Raffensperger or others to throw out ballots or otherwise alter Georgia’s election practices and procedures.
“Likewise, the grand jury may inquire into Senator Graham’s alleged communications and coordination with the Trump Campaign and its post-election efforts in Georgia, as well as into Senator Graham’s public statements related to Georgia’s 2020 elections,” May’s order continued.
On appeal, a unanimous three-judge panel issued an interim ruling against Graham earlier this month, refusing to block his testimony from proceeding. The ruling by the panel of judges on the Atlanta-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit prompted Graham’s emergency petition to the Supreme Court.
Thomas is expected to refer the matter to the full court.