end of the road

There aren’t enough smelling salts in the world to save Lindsey Graham right now

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Lindsey Graham has officially exhausted every option he has to weasel out of appearing before the special grand jury investigating Donald Trump‘s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court declined the anti-LGBTQ senator’s request to quash the subpoena he received from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ office in July ordering him to fly down to Atlanta and testify before a grand jury.

Graham had filed an emergency request begging SCOTUS to save him after the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last month that he must sit down under oath.

In its ruling, the appeals court made clear Graham had to appear before the grand jury but that he could only be asked questions about the two phone calls he made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger after the election, during which he allegedly pressured Raffensperger to “explore the possibility of a more favorable outcome for former President Donald Trump”, and nothing else.

Related: Lindsey Graham “screamed” during insurrection, accused officer of not doing “enough” to protect him

Graham’s lawyers have repeatedly tried to argue that he shouldn’t have to appear before the grand jury at all because he has “sovereign immunity” from state court procedures, as well as constitutional protection because “the testimony sought relates to matters within the legislative sphere.”

Unfortunately, that argument didn’t work in Fulton County Superior Court or the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals. And now, it’s failed in the Supreme Court, as well.

The New York Times reports:

The court’s order was one paragraph and did not note any dissents. It said that Mr. Graham had been afforded substantial protections by lower courts, which had ruled that he did not have to testify on subjects related to his official duties.

“The lower courts assumed that the informal investigative fact finding that Senator Graham assertedly engaged in constitutes legislative activity protected by the speech or debate clause” of the Constitution, the order said, “and they held that Senator Graham may not be questioned about such activities.”

But the Supreme Court’s order refused to block rulings by lower courts that permitted questioning on other topics, and it noted that Mr. Graham remained free to object to questions that implicated his legislative activities.

Despite losing, Graham’s camp still tried to spin yesterday’s SCOTUS ruling as some sort of win. In a statement issued late yesterday, his office said:

Today, the Supreme Court confirmed that the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause applies here. They also affirmed that Senator Graham ‘may return to the District Court’ if the District Attorney tries to ask questions about his constitutionally protected activities. The Senator’s legal team intends to engage with the District Attorney’s office on next steps to ensure respect for this constitutional immunity.

The South Carolina senator’s grand jury testimony is currently scheduled for November 17.

Now, here’s what Twitter has to say about the matter…

Random aside: We’re not sure why, but we’ve got DJ Alex Gaudino’s remix of Paris Hilton’s 2006 song “Screwed” stuck in our heads right now…

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