Sen. Lindsey Graham questions U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson during her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill March 22, 2022 in Washington, DC.
Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., asked the Supreme Court on Friday to halt a subpoena compelling him to testify in a Georgia county prosecutor’s criminal probe of potential interference in the 2020 election.
Graham’s request comes a day after a federal appeals court ordered him to testify in the grand jury investigation that has already ensnared Trump allies such as Rudy Giuliani.
On Thursday, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals shot down his arguments that he didn’t have to answer questions about two phone calls he made to Georgia election officials after the 2020 election because his actions were protected under the U.S. Constitution’s speech and debate clause.
In a 33-page application sent to Justice Clarence Thomas, who handles emergency requests from the 11th Circuit, Graham’s lawyers on Friday asked for an immediate emergency stay.
“Without a stay, Senator Lindsey Graham will soon be questioned by a local Georgia prosecutor and her ad hoc investigative body about his protected ‘Speech or Debate’ related to the 2020 election,” the filing says.
It argues that the court needs to step in or else Graham’s “constitutional immunities will be lost, and his statutorily guaranteed appeal mooted, the moment the local Georgia prosecutor questions him.”
Thomas can decide the issue himself, or refer the matter to the full court.