Joe.My.God. LGBT News
Congress Minutes reports:
Attorneys for Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) have formally asked a federal court to quash a subpoena demanding his testimony before a grand jury in Georgia.
The filing asks Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani Willis, whose office launched the investigation into Trump officials in Georgia following the 2020 election, to respond to their motion within three days and “quash the state court proceedings seeking to compel his appearance.”
Later on Wednesday, the suit was reassigned to Judge Henry Herlong, Jr., a nominee of President George H.W. Bush, after originally being randomly assigned to Judge Timothy Cain, who happened to work alongside Graham in private practice.
Fox News reports:
Graham’s motion argues that the subpoena would violate Constitutional protections given to members of Congress under the Speech and Debate Clause, which is designed to ensure that legislators are allowed to go about official business. According to Graham, the protections are absolute, and if members of Congress are compelled to testify in small matters, it would disrupt the operations of the federal government.
“What I’m trying to do is do my day job. If we open up county prosecutors being able to call every member of the Senate based on some investigation they think is good for the country, we’re opening Pandora’s Box,” Graham told Fox News. To compel Graham to testify in Georgia is “an abuse of process,” according to the senator’s motion, and infringes on sovereign immunity since Graham argues the calls were made as part of his work as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
UPDATE: Sen. Graham’s challenge to subpoena from GA grand jury investigating Trump’s efforts to alter 2020 election results assigned to new judge: Henry Herlong, a GHWB appointee. Earlier: https://t.co/GM3OapTBrO
— Josh Gerstein (@joshgerstein) July 13, 2022