WASHINGTON (AP) The Supreme Court on Tuesday lifted a temporary hold on Sen. Lindsey Graham s testimony in a Georgia investigation of possible illegal interference in the 2020 election by then-President Donald Trump and his allies in the state.

The court left no legal impediments in the way of Grahams appearance before a special grand jury, now scheduled for Nov. 17.

But in an unsigned order, the justices noted that Graham still could raise objections to some questions.

The South Carolina senator, a top Trump ally, had argued that a provision of the Constitution, the speech and debate clause, shields him from being forced to testify.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis had told the justices that the delay resulting from a stay would be unavoidably harmful to the grand jury investigation.

Lower courts had rebuffed Grahams plea for a pause while the legal case plays out.

Tuesdays order dissolved a temporary hold that Justice Clarence Thomas had placed on the testimony while he and his colleagues weighed the arguments.

Graham, a four-term senator who last won reelection in 2020, was first subpoenaed in July by Willis. The district attorney opened her investigation shortly after a recording of a January 2021 phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was made public. In that call, Trump suggested Raffensperger could find the votes needed to overturn his narrow loss to Democrat Joe Biden .

Willis wants to question Graham about two phone calls he made to Raffensperger and his staff in the weeks after the election.

During those calls, Graham asked about reexamining certain absentee ballots cast in Georgia in order to explore the possibility of a more favorable outcome for former President Donald Trump, Willis wrote in a petition seeking to compel his testimony.