Oct 24 (Reuters) – U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on Monday temporarily blocked a judge’s order requiring Senator Lindsey Graham to testify before a grand jury in Georgia in an investigation criminal case over whether then-President Donald Trump and his allies illegally tried to overturn 2020 election results in the state.
Thomas stayed the case pending further action by the justices or the full Supreme Court on a request by Graham, a South Carolina Republican and Trump ally, to stop the subpoena. Graham made the emergency request to the Supreme Court on Friday after a federal appeals court denied his request to block the questioning.
Thomas acted in the case because he is appointed by the court to handle emergency requests for a region that includes Georgia.
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Graham has argued that his position as a senator gives him immunity under the US Constitution’s “speech or debate” clause from having to answer questions related to his actions as part of the legislative process.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has subpoenaed Graham to answer questions about phone calls he made to a top Georgia election official in the weeks after the November 2020 election.
Atlanta-based U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May last month restricted the scope of questions Graham must answer from the grand jury, ruling that he is shielded from having to discuss “the fact-finding ” which he participated in during his state calls. election officials
However, May said he may be questioned about alleged efforts to encourage officials to throw away ballots or alleged communication with the Trump campaign. May rejected Graham’s offer to avoid testifying altogether.
The Atlanta-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit on Thursday declined to block Graham’s testimony pending appeal.
Graham is not a target of the investigation, but his testimony could shed more light on coordination among Trump allies to reverse the election results.
The senator’s attorneys said in their request that the testimony “would unquestionably focus on Senator Graham’s official acts — phone calls he made in the course of his official work, prior to the critical vote under the Vote Count Act “.
Trump continues to appear at rallies repeating his false claims that the 2020 election won by Democrat Joe Biden was stolen from him through widespread vote fraud.
The investigation was launched after Trump was recorded in a January 2, 2021 phone call pressuring Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to overturn the state’s election results based on claims baseless allegations of electoral fraud. During the phone call, Trump urged Raffensperger, a fellow Republican, to “find” enough votes to overturn his Georgia loss to Biden.
The transcript of the call quotes Trump telling Raffensperger, “I just want to find 11,780 votes,” which is the number Trump needed to win Georgia. Trump has denied wrongdoing on the phone call.
Legal experts have said Trump’s phone calls may have violated at least three state election laws: conspiracy to commit voter fraud, criminal solicitation to commit voter fraud and intentional interference with election duties.
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Reporting by Andrew Chung in New York; Editing by Will Dunham
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