Clarence Thomas Temporarily Stops Sen. Lindsey Graham From Having To Testify In Georgia Election Probe

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas placed a temporary hold on the subpoena that requires South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) to testify in the Atlanta-area prosecutor’s investigation into possible election interference by former President Donald Trump and those working closely with him.

Thomas, a stout conservative, is tasked with responding to emergency requests from Georgia.

While Thomas has the power to determine an outcome himself, issues like this are normally brought before the whole court.

Thomas’ temporary hold was likely to allow the court to have more time to decide on how they will officially respond to the dispute. The issuing of an administrative stay by Thomas does not provide an indication that Graham’s request will be granted.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has until Thursday to come back with a response on why the special grand jury in her investigation needs to hear from Graham.

The issue made its way up to the high court after the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked Graham’s efforts to get out of the subpoena last week.

Graham and his legal team claimed that his two phone calls to Georgia election officials in 2020 were protected under the speech and debate clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Willis’ investigation involves a December 2020 phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which Trump urged Raffensperger to “find the votes” to overturn the election results in Gerogia.

President Joe Biden won in the souther state by a slim margin and even though the election was nearly two years ago, Trump and some of his allies still maintain that the election was stolen from them.