Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) openly admitted that he’s trying to weaponize the Supreme Court for President Donald Trump on Thursday, drawing a backlash from legal experts.
Trump has been demanding an investigation into those who began the Russia investigation, taking particular aim at the FISA courts that signed off on the warrants giving the FBI the power to conduct surveillance of his 2016 campaign due to Russian infiltration.
Now Graham is pursuing Trump’s conspiracy claims, and he wants to enlist the Supreme Court in his witch hunt.
According to Bloomberg reporter Steve Dennis, Graham plans to call Supreme Court Justice John Roberts to ask him to conduct an investigation of those courts even though Robert’s role is not to do oversight.
! Lindsey Graham says he will call Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and ask him to look into the use of the FISA court in the 2016 election.
He said he wants to preserve FISA and right now “Trump is down on FISA” because he thinks it was used to spy on his campaign.
— Steven Dennis (@StevenTDennis) May 2, 2019
Lindsey Graham: “I don’t intend to call the FISA judges ‘do you think you were hoodwinked?’ That is uncomfortable for me. But I am going to ask Roberts ‘would you please look and see what happened?’ because I don’t want to lose the FISA program.”
— Steven Dennis (@StevenTDennis) May 2, 2019
There’s a major problem with Graham’s plan because it’s totally inappropriate because the Supreme Court is supposed to be independent, not used as a weapon to do Trump’s bidding.
In response to Graham, legal experts and journalists familiar with the high court put him in his place.
I really hate the way Trump and his allies such as Graham talk about the Supreme Court, as if they control it. It’s so corrosive. https://t.co/EPJzhiumeP
— Neal Katyal (@neal_katyal) May 2, 2019
What exactly does he think Roberts can do? So far, no evidence has been produced that shows DOJ broke any laws in how it submitted the FISA applications. People can quibble over whether more info *should* have been added re the dossier but it was enough as a matter of law. https://t.co/km0vn6jypk
— Bradley P. Moss (@BradMossEsq) May 2, 2019
OMG. No. ??♀️
This is scary and insane.
First, Justice Roberts isn’t going to take that call at all, much less investigate random matters sua sponte.
Second, even the IDEA of doing this is wholly inappropriate and a violation of our basic government structure.
— Christine Brandt (@LavishTantrums) May 2, 2019
I can’t believe this needs to be said out loud, but the Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee calling the Chief Justice personally and asking him to “look into” how a lower federal court handled a series of cases is so wildly inappropriate as to almost defy description. https://t.co/TBaBpzgUmO
— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) May 2, 2019
The Chief Justice chooses FISA judges from the current pool of district judges, but otherwise exercises no individual oversight over them. That comes from the FISA Court of Review or the Judicial Conference of the United States, not a phone call to John Roberts.
— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) May 2, 2019
Chief Justice appoints district court judges to sit on the FISA court but I’m not aware of him having any oversight role. In 2013, the court’s “presiding judge” responded to an earlier request for information from the Senate: https://t.co/IfKH47noxs https://t.co/vHZbwz6NhC
— Lawrence Hurley (@lawrencehurley) May 2, 2019
It’s not just odd — it’s very odd.
— Orin Kerr (@OrinKerr) May 2, 2019
This is a threat to the independence of the judicial branch and the separation of powers. The courts are not there to do the president’s bidding. They are there to interpret the laws and evidence. That’s why the FISA courts signed off on the warrants, because the FBI had enough evidence and probable cause. That’s how the law works. Just because Trump doesn’t like it doesn’t mean he gets to persecute the judges. And Lindsey Graham should be ashamed of himself for going along with Trump’s scheme.
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