ATLANTA — A federal judge has blocked the U.S. Department of Justice from obtaining the names and personal contact information of every individual who worked during the 2020 presidential election in Georgia’s Fulton County, issuing his ruling on Tuesday.
The Justice Department had secured a grand jury subpoena back in April seeking identifying details for county employees as well as volunteer poll workers. President Donald Trump has repeatedly alleged, without providing evidence, that widespread voter fraud took place in Fulton County — Georgia’s most heavily populated county and a Democratic stronghold — and that it cost him the state in the 2020 election.
Fulton County pushed back against the subpoena in court, arguing the request was designed to “target, harass and punish the President’s perceived political opponents” and that it was “grossly over broad and untethered to any reasonable need.”
U.S. District Judge William Ray sided with the county, writing in his decision that “given the low need for the subpoenaed information and the highly burdensome nature of the disclosure of the same, the Subpoena is unreasonable and must be quashed.” He described the reach of the request as “staggering.”
Requests for comment sent to both the Justice Department and Fulton County were not immediately answered.
Judge Ray acknowledged that grand juries frequently assist federal prosecutors in criminal investigations, but stressed that “does not give the DOJ the right to use the Grand Jury to do whatever the DOJ wants.”
The judge further noted that even if the records could help identify county workers who believe the 2020 election was unfair, that information still could not be used to file charges against anyone. “That is because the statute of limitations for any possible crime arising from the 2020 Election has long expired,” he wrote.
This subpoena followed a January action in which the FBI executed a search warrant at the Fulton County election hub, seizing hundreds of boxes of ballots and other documents tied to the 2020 election. A separate federal judge in May turned down the county’s request to have those ballots returned.
In court filings, the Justice Department had characterized the subpoena as the “next step in the normal investigative process” and argued it was seeking “records identifying persons with relevant knowledge.”
Kamal Ghali, an attorney representing Fulton County, warned that the subpoena “will chill participation by election workers” and echoed the argument that any applicable statute of limitations had already run out.
Justice Department attorney William McComb countered that the statute of limitations question is not relevant at the investigative stage, explaining that the investigation’s purpose is to determine what charges, if any, can be pursued. “My point is, as we sit here now, we are not sure what charges can be brought. That’s the whole point of the investigation,” he said.
McComb described the contact information request as something that “would simply be a pathway to determine and speak with and interview certain individuals who worked at the polls who may have seen, heard or done something in and of themselves.”
Judge Ray acknowledged that the Justice Department had raised concerns about possible criminal conduct in the years following the election, including an alleged failure by the county to preserve electronic ballot images. However, he pointed out that the subpoena itself focuses on what occurred during the 2020 election and its immediate aftermath.
In his ruling, Ray addressed the politically charged nature of the case directly: “In these hyper-political times in which we currently live, there are sure to be some who disagree with this decision because they believe the allegations of fraud in the 2020 Election and believe that ‘light’ should be brought to those claims.”
He made clear that nothing in his ruling stops others — including Congress or even the Justice Department itself — from continuing to investigate those allegations. But he said the grand jury’s power, “which exists to investigate potential crimes and to bring viable indictments,” cannot be used for that purpose. To allow otherwise, he wrote, would let anyone in power use the grand jury process to subpoena private citizen information “with no legitimate law enforcement purpose.”
“Thus, everyone, whether you support the President or you do not, or whether you believe the 2020 Election was fair or believe that it was not, should be concerned about the DOJ’s ability to utilize the power of the Grand Jury to appropriate your private information without a legitimate purpose,” Ray wrote.
