Lindsey Graham (@lindseygrahamsc)

Public criticism timeline and community reputation for this profile on RepIndex. Ratings are community votes, not verified facts.

Memorial Account for United States Senator Lindsey Graham July 9, 1955 - July 11, 2026.

Score: 100/100 · 1 votes · Neutral

Lindsey Graham on RepIndex: community score 100/100 from 1 votes (Neutral). Top positive reasons: Expert (1), Verified Professional (1). These figures are community votes, not verified facts.

Public criticisms

Editorial timeline of public reporting, not a legal finding.

Reversal on filling an election-year Supreme Court vacancy, 2016-2020

Senator Lindsey Graham drew criticism after outlets reported that he reversed his 2016 and 2018 public statements that an election-year Supreme Court vacancy should be left to the next president. In 2020, as Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, he backed and ran the fast confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett weeks before the election, citing changed Senate rules and the Kavanaugh fight.

  1. Says "use my words against me" on election-year vacancies - NPR and PolitiFact reported that at a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting on March 10, 2016, during the standoff over President Barack Obama's nominee Merrick Garland, Graham said: "If there's a Republican president in 2016 and a vacancy occurs in the last year of the first term, you can say Lindsey Graham said let's let the next president, whoever it might be, make that nomination." He added that "you could use my words against me." 'Use My Words Against Me': Lindsey Graham's Shifting Position On Court Vacancies
  2. Repeats the position at an Atlantic event - PolitiFact reported that at an Atlantic magazine event on Oct. 3, 2018, Graham said: "If an opening comes in the last year of President Trump's term, and the primary process has started, we'll wait until the next election." NPR reported the same remark from his October 2018 interview with Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg. Sen. Lindsey Graham flip-flops on filling a Supreme Court vacancy in an election year
  3. Backs moving forward on Ginsburg's seat - CNN and NPR reported that on Sept. 19, 2020, the day after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died, Graham, then chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote on Twitter that he would support President @realDonaldTrump "in any effort to move forward" on the vacancy. He pointed to Democrats' earlier change to Senate confirmation rules and the 2018 Kavanaugh confirmation fight. NPR described it as a reversal of his earlier position. Lindsey Graham commits to supporting Trump 'in any effort to move forward' in filling Ginsburg's seat
  4. Opens Barrett hearings amid accusations of inconsistency - BBC Persian reported that as Graham opened the Judiciary Committee hearings for Judge Amy Coney Barrett on Oct. 12, 2020, three weeks before the presidential election, Democrats said the process should wait until after the vote. It said his critics accused him of duplicity because in 2016 he had repeatedly told reporters that Supreme Court nominees should not be considered in a presidential election year. بررسی صلاحیت نامزد ترامپ برای دیوان عالی آمریکا با جدال سناتور‌ها شروع شد
  5. Barrett confirmed 52-48 days before the election - AP reported that the Senate confirmed Barrett late on Oct. 26, 2020, by a deeply divided Senate days before the election. BBC Persian reported the 52-48 tally, with Susan Collins the only Republican voting no, and said Democrats called the move hypocrisy because Republicans had refused in 2016 to consider President Obama's nominee in an election year. Barrett confirmed as Supreme Court justice in partisan vote

Call with Georgia's top election official about absentee ballots, 2020

Graham drew criticism after Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said that in a November 2020 call during the recount, the senator asked about matching absentee ballots to voters and implied that ballots from counties with high signature-error rates could be thrown out. Graham denied it. A Fulton County special grand jury later heard him and recommended charges, but he was not charged.

  1. Raffensperger says Graham implied tossing some ballots - CNN reported that Raffensperger, a Republican, said on Nov. 16, 2020, after telling The Washington Post, that in a call the previous Friday Graham asked whether absentee ballots could be matched back to voters, which he took as an implication to look at counties with the highest signature-error rates and "see how many ballots you could throw out." Georgia was then hand-recounting votes after Joe Biden's narrow win. Raffensperger repeated the account to CBS News the next day. Georgia secretary of state says Lindsey Graham implied he should try to throw away ballots
  2. Graham denies it as a Georgia official on the call weighs in - NBC News reported that Graham denied making such a suggestion, calling the claim "ridiculous" and saying he was trying to find out how signature verification worked. Gabriel Sterling, a Georgia elections official who said he was on the call, told reporters on Nov. 17, 2020, that he heard a discussion of whether a court could be asked to throw out ballots if signatures did not match, and that he could see how Graham and Raffensperger viewed it differently. Georgia officials spar with Sen. Lindsey Graham over alleged ballot tossing comments
  3. Subpoenaed by the Fulton County special grand jury - The Guardian and NBC News reported that the Fulton County special grand jury investigating efforts to overturn Georgia's 2020 result subpoenaed Graham along with Trump lawyers including Rudy Giuliani. NBC said the subpoena alleged Graham made at least two calls to Raffensperger and his staff about reexamining certain absentee ballots "in order to explore the possibility of a more favorable outcome for former President Donald Trump." Graham has denied wrongdoing. Georgia grand jury subpoenas Trump lawyers over effort to overturn election
  4. Supreme Court declines to block the subpoena - The U.S. Supreme Court docket shows that on Nov. 1, 2022, the court denied Graham's application to put the subpoena on hold while he appealed, noting that lower courts had already barred questions about his protected legislative fact-finding. NBC News reported that Graham had argued the Constitution's speech or debate clause shielded him from testifying about the calls. Docket 22A337: Lindsey Graham, United States Senator, Applicant v. Fulton County Special Purpose Grand Jury
  5. Testifies before the special grand jury - NBC News reported that Graham testified before the Fulton County special grand jury on Nov. 22, 2022. His office said he testified for just over two hours, answered the grand jury's questions, felt he was treated with respect, and would not comment on the substance of the questions. Lindsey Graham testifies before Georgia grand jury in Trump election probe
  6. Grand jury report shows it recommended charges; he was not indicted - PBS reported that the special grand jury's report, released Sept. 8, 2023, showed 13 jurors voted to recommend charging Graham, seven voted against and one abstained. CNN and NBC News reported that District Attorney Fani Willis did not charge him in the August 2023 indictment of @realDonaldTrump and 18 others. Graham told reporters he never asked Raffensperger to set aside ballots, CNN reported. Read the full Georgia grand jury report that recommended more indictments in the 2020 election case

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