A federal court of appeals issued a temporary stay on an order that required Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) to testify in front of a Fulton County, Georgia, special grand jury, blocking a subpoena probing former President Trump's alleged interference in the 2020 election.
The decision, which came from a three-judge panel, will send the case back to the district court to decide whether Graham is entitled to a "partial quash or modification of subpoena."
The judges agreed with Graham that the Constitution's speech and Debate Clause prevents him from appearing before a grand jury in Fulton County.
The senator was poised to appear before the special grand jury later this week after a decision from a U.S. District Court rejected his request to quash the subpoena, forcing the senator to testify in the interest of not delaying the investigation. The judge ruled that Graham does not have testimonial immunity.
Earlier this week, U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May said that Graham could still be questioned even if the speech and debate clause of the Constitution protected him.
"The mere possibility that some lines of inquiry could implicate Senator Graham's immunity under the Speech or Debate Clause does not justify quashing the subpoena in its entirety because there are considerable areas of inquiry which are clearly not legislative in nature," May said.
The Fulton County District Attorney's Office said that the senator's testimony is crucial to the investigation "because he is expected to provide information regarding additional sources of relevant information."
NEW - 11th Circuit temporarily blocks Sen. Lindsey Graham from testifying in Fulton County Special Grand Jury and sends Graham’s motion to quash subpoena back to district court to further discuss potential Speech or Debate protections. #gapol pic.twitter.com/CTKEx3TUOn
— stephen fowler (@stphnfwlr) August 21, 2022