A federal appeals court on Sunday agreed to put on hold a lower court order requiring U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham to testify before a special grand jury.
The South Carolina Republican was told to testify before the grand jury.
On Monday, May denied Graham's request to quash his subpoena, and on Friday she rejected his attempt to put her decision on hold while he appealed. The lawyers for Graham appealed to the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals.
The appeals court halted May's order declining to quash the subpoena. The panel will decide in May if the subpoena should be partially quashed or modified because of protections granted to members of Congress.
The case will return to the 11th Circuit for further consideration once May makes a decision.
Messages seeking comment on the ruling were not immediately responded to. The Fulton County District Attorney's office did not respond to a request for comment.
The investigation began after a phone call between Trump and the Georgia Secretary of State. Trump suggested that Raffensperger could overturn his narrow loss in the state.
After the 2020 general election, Graham made two phone calls to Raffensperger's staff. In order to explore the possibility of a more favorable outcome for former President Donald Trump, Graham asked about "reexamining certain Absentee Ballots cast in Georgia in order to explore the possibility of a more favorable outcome."
There are allegations of widespread voter fraud in the November 2020 election in Georgia, consistent with public statements made by known affiliates of the Trump Campaign.
There was no evidence of voter fraud that could have changed the outcome of the election.
Graham may be able to provide insight into the extent of any coordinated efforts to influence the results of the 2020 general election in Georgia.
Members of Congress are protected from questioning about official legislative acts by the speech or debate clause. May was instructed to determine if Graham was entitled to a partial quashal or modification of the subpoena.
According to Graham's attorneys, the calls were made as part of his legislative duties, so he won't have to testify.
May noted that the clause doesn't protect actions that are political. There would be significant areas of potential testimony related to the grand jury's investigation on which Senator Graham could be questioned that would not fall within the Clause's protections.
That's right.
Meg Kinnard is a writer for the Associated Press.
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