In one of the more bizarre pieces of news out from the U.S. Supreme Court to date, Monday, Justice Clarence Thomas unilaterally agreed to temporarily freeze Sen. Lindsey Graham’s order to testify before the Fulton County, Georgia, special grand jury investigating efforts by former President Donald Trump and others to unlawfully influence the outcome of the 2020 election in the state.
Thomas has jurisdiction over the lower court, CNN reports. The response was likely given in order to give the Supreme Court justices more time to review the case. The Georgia court has until Thursday to offer a response.
The South Carolina senator has done everything he can to avoid testifying to the special grand jury. In an Aug. 24 brief, Graham reasons that the subpoena is invalid based on a rarely used section of the U.S. Constitution.
RELATED STORY: Lindsey Graham believes he’s above the law, tells judge that Georgia DA must explain her questioning
“The Constitution guarantees that a Senator ‘shall not be questioned’ about his protected ‘Speech or Debate’—and yet the District Attorney insists that Senator Graham must submit to questioning to ascertain whether he can be questioned or is immune from questioning. That makes no sense,” Graham’s motion reads.
Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis has written that Graham’s testimony is vital to interpreting “a multistate, coordinated plan by the Trump campaign to influence the results of the November 2020 election in Georgia and elsewhere,” The Washington Post reports.
Lower courts have argued that Graham’s calls to Georgia election officials were simply done in good faith for congressionally certifying President Joe Biden’s win, according to CNN.
The 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals retorts that “communications and coordination with the Trump campaign regarding its post-election efforts in Georgia, public statements regarding the 2020 election, and efforts to ‘cajole’ or ‘exhort’ Georgia election officials” are not legislative activities protected by the Speech and Debate Clause.”
Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern says Thomas’ move is “not unusual”
What complicates (and blows one’s mind) is the role Thomas’ wife, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, played in order to overturn Joe Biden’s presidential win. She was so desperate, in fact, that she emailed 29 Arizona lawmakers in November and December 2020, sometimes twice.
The Washington Post reported that Thomas additionally emailed two GOP lawmakers in Wisconsin as well—Sen. Kathy Bernier, then chair of the Senate elections committee, and state Rep. Gary Tauchen—pressing them to “choose” their own presidential electors, despite the fact that electors are chosen by the voters, not MAGA insurrectionists.
After this most recent news broke, political reporter Chris Geidner tweeted, “Although likely just a temporary order, this does tell us that none of the reporting over this year has led Thomas to recuse himself in cases involving the 2020 election and efforts to overturn the presidential election results, despite his wife’s involvement in those efforts,” political reporter Chris Geidner writes.
Sign the petition: Conflicts of interest undermine public trust – we need a code of ethics for SCOTUS
On Daily Kos’ The Brief, we speak with polling giant Drew Linzer, who runs polling firm CIVIQs and comes in to talk about a new poll his team conducted for Daily Kos. He is also here to explain, as a professional, how to not stress out every time you see a poll going your way or the other way. One thing is for sure, though: We are living in historic times, and what that means for these midterms cannot be easily predicted—so Get Out The Vote!
