{"id":24987,"date":"2022-08-23T13:44:28","date_gmt":"2022-08-23T13:44:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2022\/08\/23\/what-is-the-us-constitutions-speech-or-debate-clause\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:58:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:58:17","slug":"what-is-the-us-constitutions-speech-or-debate-clause","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/federal-oversight\/2022\/08\/23\/what-is-the-us-constitutions-speech-or-debate-clause\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the US Constitution\u2019s \u2018speech or debate\u2019 clause?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sen. Lindsey Graham is holding up the Constitution\u2019s \u201cspeech or debate\u201d clause as a shield as he tries to avoid testifying before a special grand jury that\u2019s investigating whether former President Donald Trump and others tried to illegally influence the 2020 election in Georgia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis wants to ask the South Carolina Republican about two phone calls she says he made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his staff in the weeks after the 2020 general election, as well as the circumstances and logistics surrounding those calls. Raffensperger said at the time<\/a> that Graham asked him whether he had the power to reject certain absentee ballots, a question he interpreted as a suggestion to toss out legally cast votes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Graham\u2019s attorneys have argued that the calls were made as part of his legislative duties and that the speech or debate clause gives him absolute protection from having to testify.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The legal back-and-forth has already delayed Graham\u2019s testimony, which had been been set for Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What exactly is the speech or debate clause?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Under Article I of the Constitution, \u201cfor any Speech or Debate in either House,\u201d senators and U.S. House members \u201cshall not be questioned in any other place.\u201d Simply, the provision \u2014 \u201capproved at the Constitutional Convention without discussion and without opposition,\u201d the U.S. Supreme Court wrote in a 1966 decision \u2014 is intended to protect members of Congress from questioning about official legislative acts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a 1968 decision concerning a congressman\u2019s conviction under a conflict of interest statute, the Supreme Court wrote that the provision\u2019s intent was \u201cto prevent legislative intimidation by and accountability to the other branches of government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does the speech or debate clause protect?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The argument over whether Graham is protected by the clause in this case \u201cis fundamentally about what kinds of acts are legislative versus what kinds of acts are not,\u201d said Anthony Michael Kreis, a constitutional law professor at Georgia State University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actions like speaking on the floor of the House or Senate, introducing legislation, working on a committee report and acts of legislative fact finding are all clearly covered, he said. News interviews, publications unrelated to official duties, political activities and engaging with the executive branch are not covered, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Graham arguing?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Graham has argued that the calls to Raffensperger involved his duties as a U.S. senator and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, so he should have absolute protection from having to testify in this case. In court earlier this month<\/a>, Graham attorney Brian Lea argued that the senator\u2019s responsibility to decide whether to vote to certify Georgia\u2019s election results, coupled with his shepherding of election-related legislation, made the calls part of his legislative duties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are prosecutors saying?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Prosecutors have argued that the calls are just their starting point. They have also disputed the notion that the phone calls were solely about legislative issues, saying that Graham was seeking to make changes to the way Georgia handled absentee ballots ahead of January 2021 runoff elections for U.S. Senate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Graham asked U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May to quash his subpoena and rule that he didn\u2019t have to testify before the special grand jury. Last week, she declined to do that,<\/a> meaning Graham was still set to appear on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May noted that the clause doesn\u2019t protect actions that are political rather than legislative. Even if she accepted that the calls were \u201ccomprised entirely of legislative factfinding,\u201d and thus protected, \u201cthere would still be significant areas of potential testimony related to the grand jury\u2019s investigation on which Senator Graham could be questioned that would in no way fall within the Clause\u2019s protections,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is happening how?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Graham appealed to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A three-judge panel of the appeals court on Sunday issued an order<\/a> temporarily putting on hold May\u2019s order rejecting Graham\u2019s request to quash the subpoena. That also put his Tuesday appearance before the special grand jury temporarily on hold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The appeals court sent the case back to May, instructing her to determine whether Graham \u201cis entitled to a partial quashal or modification of the subpoena\u201d based on the Constitution\u2019s speech or debate clause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May on Monday ordered the two sides to file briefs, with the final deadline at the middle of next week. She specifically asked them to \u201caddress whether, and to what extent, certain alleged conduct (including specific lines of inquiry on telephone calls) is shielded from questioning\u201d by the clause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And she asked them to discuss whether \u201cinformal investigative inquiries\u201d by members of Congress are protected by the clause or whether it applies only to \u201cinvestigative inquiries that originate from a more formal congressional source, such as an investigation authorized by a Senate subcommittee.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What happens next?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s hard to say. If she finds that Graham is not entitled to any protection from the speech or debate clause for this matter, she could rule that any questions that Willis\u2019 team wants to ask are fair game, professor Kreis said. But if she finds that certain lines of questioning would infringe on his privilege under the clause, she could set \u201cnarrow guideposts,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once May has ruled on this limited issue, the case will head back to the 11th Circuit for further consideration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. Rep. Jody Hice, a Georgia Republican and Trump ally, also filed a motion in federal court seeking to quash his subpoena. His case was also heard by May. During a hearing, Hice\u2019s lawyers agreed that there were some questions he could be asked before the special grand jury that wouldn\u2019t be protected by any immunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May sent the case back<\/a> to Fulton County Superior Court. She said at the time that if disagreements were to arise over whether specific questions infringed on Hice\u2019s federal immunities, he could bring the federal issues back to her to settle. It wasn\u2019t immediately clear where that stands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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