It’s a mystery to us why the rest of the Senate — and, for that matter, the House — isn’t showing up for Lindsey Graham in his battle to avoid having to testify before a grand jury in Georgia looking into the 2020 election. The senator is seeking protection under the Constitution’s speech and debate clause. It says of the senators and representatives that for “any speech or debate in either house, they shall not be questioned in any other place.”

We invite you to focus on the word “any.” It’s a small, English-language word of only three letters. Easy to pronounce. Has a nice, two-syllable beat. One would think that a United States district judge would be able to grasp its meaning. The sages who framed our Constitution had lots of options if they wanted to modify the phrase “speech or debate.” They could have said, say, for “a speech and debate.” Or “some speech and debate.”

The Framers didn’t. They didn’t choose some other way to modify what speech and what debate they were talking about. They could have said any speech or debate that involves legislative matters. Or doesn’t involve scandal. Or doesn’t involve elections. Or is conducted in the English language. They didn’t say that. They said that no senator or representative shall be questioned elsewhere for “any” speech or debate made in either house.

Not only that, but in the speech and debate clause the Framers used the word “any” not once but twice. Even though it’s a short clause. They used it early in the clause to make clear that they were talking about “any” speech or debate. It turns out, though, that they also used the word “any” to describe what other places senators and representatives shall not be questioned. They could have said “some,” or “many,” or “most” other place or places. 

They didn’t. No, the furshlugginer Framers really laid down a marker. They said these senators and representatives shall not be questioned in “any” other place — not the White House, not the United Nations, and not our courts. Not even in a grand jury in Georgia. The word, the dictionary says, is “used to express a lack of restriction.” Which is clearly what the Founders intended when they used it for “any” speech or debate or “any” other place. 

That is, the speech and debate clause is one of the great perks in the history of constitutional government. It’s a bulwark of separated powers.  In the entire Constitution there is no feature quite like it. Which is why, we suspect, the other branches are so resentful of the Congress. Anyone else who says something offensive to the prosecutors gets haled into court faster than you can say Jack Robinson. The lowliest congressman in the House is immune.

By the way, the speech and debate clause, as we read it, does not bar questioning a senator or representative merely against his or her wishes. It doesn’t, that is, say he “may not” be questioned in any other place — even if he’s willing. It says a senator or representative “shall not” be questioned in any other place. It is a prohibition on the would-be questioners, in this case the court, grand jury, and prosecutors. 

Which brings us back to Lindsey Graham. It’s not clear to us that he has something to hide, but you can bet your bottom dollar that once the senator gets into that grand jury room, he is going to be in peril. He’ll wish he’d never said anything in the Senate. It’s the way prosecutors work. It’s why for “any” — without limit — speech or debate in either house no congressperson or senator may be questioned in “any” — without limit — other place. Not any.