I Do Declare: Fani Willis Beat Lindsey Graham in Federal Court. Now He Must Testify Under Oath.

More popcorn, please.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who we imagine spends his free time on a wraparound porch wearing seerksucker and sipping mint juleps, will have to interrupt that routine and head south to Georgia to answer questions in front of a grand jury.

Read more

• Aside from Halle Bailey, Here Are Other Black Disney Actors and Characters We Love

• Best Streaming Service for your Black Dollar in October

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday gave the final smackdown to Graham’s legal effort to avoid a subpoena to answer questions before the special grand jury convened by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to investigate whether ex-prez Donald Trump, or anyone else, broke the law in trying to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results. The anyone else part is important, because by definition it could include Graham himself, who was a Trump campaign supporter and made calls to Georgia officials in the wake of Trump’s loss, around the same time that Trump himself was pushing the lie that he actually won in Georgia, and nationally.

Graham will now have to answer questions under oath related to what he knew about Trump’s effort, and about his own, which means he could himself be at legal peril for perjury if he doesn’t tell the truth. Of course, he could always plead the fifth, staving off answering any questions that incriminate him, and the federal court’s ruling also says he is protected from answering questions that fall under his authority to conduct legislative inquiry, potentially a major loophole.

Legally that’d be fine but it’d also be the political equivalent of bulletin board material in sports, handing Democrats an argument to use against Graham in his next general election campaign or against Republicans in general, reminding voters that a sitting U.S. Senator couldn’t answer questions about his behavior in the last presidential election without potentially admitting he may have committed a crime.

Of course, all of this is going down in Georgia, a state in the midst of its own heated U.S. Senate and gubernatorial races, making it be very interesting next few weeks for political junkies to focus on the peach state.

More from The Root

• 15 Beloved Black Banned Books You Must Read Now [UPDATED]

• 15 Priceless Black Twitter Moments Worth Remembering

Sign up for The Root's Newsletter. For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.