Justice Clarence Thomas, an associate judge for the United States Supreme Court, has temporarily suspended the order of a lower court in Atlanta that had subpoenaed Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Senator. The lower court had asked Graham to testify in front of a grand jury investigating the alleged efforts that went in to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential elections in Georgia.

Justice Thomas acted alone in suspending the lower court’s order since the latter falls under his jurisdiction. His order comes after Graham’s request to delay the subpoena was rejected by a federal appeals court last week.

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Fani Willis, the Fulton County District Attorney and leader of the investigation into efforts that had allegedly gone in to overturn the Georgia results, had earlier said that Graham was to be questioned regarding certain calls he made to Georgia’s election officials. Donald Trump had made a call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in January 2021, asking him to 

Graham, the Republican senator, had cited the Constitution’s Speech or Debate clause that protects lawmakers from some legal penalties for behaviour related to their legislative obligations.

However, according to the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals, “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” do not fall under activities that are granted protection under said clause.

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On Friday, Graham had argued to the Supreme Court that the phone calls between him and election officials in Georgia were about the “impending vote on certifying the election”, and since he was the Senate Judiciary Committee’s chairman during that time, “reviewing election-related issues” was his legislative duty.

Neither Fulton County nor Lindsey Graham have yet made any official statement after Judge Thomas blocked the subpoena.