Lindsey Graham appears on CNN (screen grab)
On Thursday, Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC) announced that he was asking Chief Justice John Roberts to investigate the decisions made in 2016 by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court — which President Donald Trump and his supporters baselessly believe misused warrants to "spy" on the Trump campaign.
Graham, one of Trump's most loyal allies in the Senate, claimed that this is necessary to preserve the integrity of the FISA court because "Trump is down on FISA" and needs confidence they are doing the right thing.
But reporters and legal experts quickly condemned Graham's attempt to weaponize the Supreme Court to pursue Trump's conspiracy theories:
I can’t believe this needs to be said out loud, but the Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee calling the Chief J… https://t.co/NMWtBZCC4A— Steve Vladeck (@Steve Vladeck) 1556826586.0
What does he mean by "call", exactly? https://t.co/48WqyoVswX— Mieke Eoyang (@Mieke Eoyang) 1556811465.0
Chief Justice appoints district court judges to sit on the FISA court but I'm not aware of him having any oversight… https://t.co/j1ZpDBXVcl— Lawrence Hurley (@Lawrence Hurley) 1556830261.0
What exactly does he think Roberts can do? So far, no evidence has been produced that shows DOJ broke any laws in h… https://t.co/iFANl0tmep— Bradley P. Moss (@Bradley P. Moss) 1556815995.0
