{"id":1579746,"date":"2022-07-29T18:31:10","date_gmt":"2022-07-29T22:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1579746"},"modified":"2022-07-29T18:31:42","modified_gmt":"2022-07-29T22:31:42","slug":"political-hackery-of-georgia-dem-harassing-sen-graham-would-have-framers-spinning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/political-hackery-of-georgia-dem-harassing-sen-graham-would-have-framers-spinning\/","title":{"rendered":"Political Hackery of Georgia Dem Harassing Sen. Graham Would Have Framers Spinning"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fpolitical-hackery-of-georgia-dem-harassing-sen-graham-would-have-framers-spinning%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1579746&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Even our Founding Fathers could not have foreseen the political hackery on display in Fulton County, a motion filed late Friday in a Georgia federal court by Sen. Lindsey Graham\u2019s legal team makes clear.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this month, Fulton County\u2019s Democrat District Attorney Fani Willis obtained permission to subpoena Graham with the goal of forcing the United States senator from South Carolina to testify before her fake grand jury. Graham had originally filed a motion to quash the subpoena in a federal court in South Carolina but later agreed with Willis to dismiss that motion and refile it in a Georgia federal court, which he did this afternoon.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In his motion to quash, Graham opened by stressing that Willis had obtained permission in early 2022 from the Fulton County Superior Court to impanel a \u201cspecial grand jury\u201d to assist in her supposed investigation \u201cinto any coordinated attempts to unlawfully alter the outcome of the 2020 elections in this state,\u201d but the term \u201cgrand jury\u201d is a misnomer. Unlike a typical grand jury, Willis\u2019 grand jury \u201ccannot indict; all it does is investigate and issue non-binding recommendations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Yet Willis demands that Graham and a parade of other nationally known Republicans, such as Trump\u2019s election lawyers Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Jenna Ellis, and Cleta Mitchell, march into Fulton County for questioning by county prosecutors. While Democrats may take glee in Willis\u2019s politically motivated \u201cinvestigation\u201d and her targeting of big-name Republicans \u2014 she has reportedly already forced Georgia Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Deputy Secretary of State Gabe Sterling to testify before the \u201cspecial grand jury\u201d \u2014 her attempt to haul Graham into a county courthouse in Georgia should raise concerns on both sides of the aisle.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Article I, Section 6 of the Constitution provides that \u201cfor any Speech or Debate in either House, [members] shall not be questioned in any other Place.\u201d This clause, known commonly as \u201cthe Speech or Debate Clause,\u201d applies not just to \u201cspeech\u201d and \u201cdebate\u201d in the literal sense, but also \u201cprotects a member\u2019s conduct if it is an integral part of the due functioning of the legislative process.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Graham seeks to quash Willis\u2019s subpoena based on the Speech or Debate clause; he also argues that sovereign immunity and the \u201chigh-ranking official\u201d doctrine prevent the county D.A. from subpoenaing him.<\/p>\n<p>From a purely textual perspective, Graham\u2019s Speech or Debate argument should succeed, as I <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/07\/22\/fulton-county-das-j6-style-crusade-against-lindsey-graham-is-unconstitutional-and-heres-why\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">detailed<\/a> previously. In short, the Fulton County prosecutor seeks to \u201cquestion\u201d him in a place other than Congress. Further, in claiming Graham is \u201ca necessary and material witness,\u201d Willis focuses on two telephone conversations the senator had with Raffensperger and his staff about absentee ballots and allegations of widespread voter fraud, but as Graham stresses, his questioning of the secretary of state on reported irregularities in Georgia\u2019s election were \u201cintegral\u201d to the \u201cfunctioning of the legislative process.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Specifically, as a senator, Graham had the authority to raise objections to a state\u2019s certificates of electors under the Electoral Count Act, as well as to debate the objections raised by others, and then vote on the objections. Graham did precisely that. And as I previously explained, the Supreme Court has made \u201cclear that obtaining information for the purpose of legislating \u2018wisely or effectively\u2019 constitutes an appropriate \u2018legislative function.\u2019\u201d Under these circumstances, the Speech or Debate Clause, properly <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/07\/22\/fulton-county-das-j6-style-crusade-against-lindsey-graham-is-unconstitutional-and-heres-why\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">understood<\/a>, should keep the county D.A. out of the Senate\u2019s business.<\/p>\n<p>But beyond the textual argument, which the federal court will likely consider in the next week or so on an expedited time frame, the underlying rationale for the Speech or Debate Clause should provide a stark warning to Democrats that what Willis is doing is destructive to our democratic republic and should be denounced.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As Graham\u2019s attorneys stressed in his motion, the framers believed the Speech or Debate Clause was \u201c\u2018indispensably necessary\u2019 for the independence of the legislature, and ultimately for the \u2018rights of the people.\u2019\u201d Only by protecting members of Congress from being questioned about their legislative activity could the integrity of the legislative process be assured. \u201cBy \u2018enabling these representatives to execute the functions of their office without fear\u2019 of interference from prosecutors, grand juries, or courts, the Framers understood that the \u2018rights of the people\u2019 would, in turn, be protected.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But here, we don\u2019t truly have a \u201cprosecutor\u201d or a \u201cgrand jury\u201d; we have an inquisitor and her trial of Republicans by publicity. And the Fulton County court seems but a rubber stamp for the subpoenas Willis seeks. <\/p>\n<p>And Willis is but one county D.A. Imagine the mischief if every prosecutor with political ambitions followed her lead.<\/p>\n<p>If the federal court hearing Graham\u2019s motion to quash does not put a stop to this Fulton County prosecutor\u2019s ploy, \u201cthere would be nothing to stop any state or local official from investigating \u2014 or \u2018intimidat[ing]\u2019 under the veneer of investigating \u2014 Senators or Representatives with which they disagree.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Democrats may not care now, and they may never care about the Constitution, but they would be wise to worry about payback.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Margot Cleveland is The Federalist&#8217;s senior legal correspondent. She is also a contributor to National Review Online, the Washington Examiner, Aleteia, and Townhall.com, and has been published in the Wall Street Journal and USA Today. <\/p>\n<p>Cleveland is a lawyer and a graduate of the Notre Dame Law School, where she earned the Hoynes Prize\u2014the law school\u2019s highest honor. She later served for nearly 25 years as a permanent law clerk for a federal appellate judge on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Cleveland is a former full-time university faculty member and now teaches as an adjunct from time to time. <\/p>\n<p>As a stay-at-home homeschooling mom of a young son with cystic fibrosis, Cleveland frequently writes on cultural issues related to parenting and special-needs children. Cleveland is on Twitter at @ProfMJCleveland. The views expressed here are those of Cleveland in her private capacity.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-comments mt-30 mt-sm-60\">\n<div class=\"article-comments-container d-flex flex-column align-items-center py-30\">\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"110\" height=\"106\" src=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/fdrlst-mark.svg\" class=\"img-fluid mb-20\" alt=\"The Federalist logo eagle mark\" \/>    <\/p>\n<p>Unlock commenting by joining the Federalist Community.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/plans\/pricing\/\" class=\"btn btn-on-white\">Subscribe<\/a>  <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Even our Founding Fathers could not have foreseen the political hackery on display in Fulton County, a motion filed late Friday in a Georgia federal court by Sen. Lindsey Graham\u2019s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":499,"featured_media":1897852,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1579746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_finder_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/07\/29\/political-hackery-of-georgia-dem-harassing-sen-graham-would-have-framers-spinning\/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=political-hackery-of-georgia-dem-harassing-sen-graham-would-have-framers-spinning","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1579746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/499"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1579746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1579746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1897852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1579746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1579746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1579746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}