Supreme Court rules that Lindsey Graham must comply with a grand jury subpoena in Georgia election probe

• The Supreme Court denied Lindsey Graham's request to block a grand jury subpoena.
• A Georgia grand jury is investigating alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham's bid to avoid testifying before a Georgia special grand jury investigating alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

In an unsigned order, the nation's highest court dismissed Graham's emergency request to block the subpoena, writing that "a stay or injunction is not necessary to safeguard the Senator's speech or debate clause immunity."

The court's ruling means Graham must testify in the Georgia election probe.

The South Carolina senator argued that he was exempt from the subpoena because of the Constitution's Speech or Debate clause, which asserts that members of Congress are safeguarded from being questioned about their legislative activity.

Justice Clarence Thomas, who handles emergency matters arising from Georgia, referred the issue to the full Supreme Court after he temporarily halted a lower court ruling ordering Graham to comply the subpoena. There were no recorded dissents from the nine justices.

Tuesday's decision delivers a significant victory to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, whose office wants information from Graham about reported calls he made to Georgia officials after the 2020 US election.

The state was one of several battleground states that Joe Biden won, and former President Donald Trump and his allies filed a number of lawsuits challenging Georgia's election results, though none were successful.

Georgia's top election official, Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, has said that Graham called him and asked him to throw out entire counties' worth of mail in ballots in the state. Trump also called Raffensperger and pressed him to "find" enough votes to swing the state to him.

After Tuesday's Supreme Court ruling, Graham's office put out a statement saying the senator would "engage with the District Attorney's office on next steps to ensure respect for this Constitutional immunity."

This story is developing. Please check back for updates.