U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has issued a temporary injunction on lower court orders that say Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) must comply with a subpoena relating to his attempts to overturn Georgia’s results in the 2020 presidential election.
Thomas oversees emergency requests from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. Earlier this month, that appellate court agreed with a district court ruling that said Graham could not avoid the subpoena request from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who wants Graham to testify before a grand jury regarding his actions surrounding the election.
While the injunction is in place, the Republican senator will not have to appear before the grand jury. The injunction will remain in place while the entire Supreme Court considers whether to grant review to the 11th Circuit Court’s opinion. At least four of the nine justices must agree to do so in order for the case to move forward — if they do not, the 11th Circuit Court’s opinion will remain in place, and Graham will have to abide by the subpoena.
With the balance of the Court leaning 6-3 in favor of the conservative justices, it’s likely the justices will vote to at least entertain Graham’s claims. However, the Court did reject a challenge from former President Donald Trump earlier this month over dubious claims relating to documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
Graham is wanted for questioning related to his conversations with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) weeks after Trump lost the 2020 presidential election (in the state and in the U.S. overall) to now-President Joe Biden. Graham had called Raffensperger to discuss mail-in ballots, and allegedly wanted him to dispose of all mail-in ballots from counties that had higher rates of signature discrepancies, even if many of the ballots didn’t have discrepancies themselves — a move that would have disregarded thousands of legitimate votes and likely helped Trump win the state, as Biden supporters voted by mail at higher rates.
Graham has defended the call, saying his words were not as direct and malicious as Raffensperger has alleged.
In court, Graham has also asserted that he doesn’t need to comply with Willis’s subpoena due to the speech and debate clause of the U.S. Constitution, which shields lawmakers in Congress from being held accountable for their words during debates or in their official work. He has also claimed that he is protected from having to comply with such orders as a U.S. senator.
Both arguments were soundly rejected by the 11th Circuit Court. The three-judge panel noted in its ruling earlier this month, for example, that Graham’s defenses based on the speech and debate clause have been interpreted by the Supreme Court to only apply to “inquiry into acts that occur in the regular course of the legislative process,” not for any action or statements a lawmaker makes.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy