The Atlanta area district attorney conducting a criminal investigation of Republican efforts to reverse the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia argued in a court filing Friday that Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) should appear before a special grand jury next week despite his appeal to postpone offering testimony.

In the filing, the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office, which is leading the probe into the actions of former president Donald Trump and his allies, argued that delaying Graham’s appearance would also “delay the revelation of an entire category of relevant witnesses,” pushing back the timeline of the investigation.

Graham has formally appealed a judge’s order requiring him to testify on Tuesday. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) has expressed interest in questioning Graham about conversations he had in the wake of the 2020 election with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R), among other things.

Graham’s lawyers have characterized Willis’s investigation as a fishing expedition and said his outreach to Raffensperger was consistent with his duties as a senator.

The U.S. district judge who issued the order, Leigh Martin May, denied Graham’s request for a stay Friday as well as his request for an emergency hearing.

“Senator Graham’s arguments are entirely unpersuasive, and they do not even demonstrate a ‘substantial case on the merits,’ ” the judge wrote.

The question of whether Graham testifies is up to the 11th U.S. Circuit...

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