A federal judge has ruled that the FBI can retain more than 600 boxes of 2020 election ballots seized from Fulton County, Georgia, even while acknowledging serious problems with how agents obtained them.
U.S. District Judge J.P. Boulee issued a 68-page order Wednesday rejecting the county's demand for return of the materials. Boulee found that Fulton County officials failed to meet the legal threshold required to reclaim the ballots, stating they hadn't demonstrated either a pressing need for the documents or that their absence would cause irreparable harm.
The judge's decision was notably conflicted. While denying the county relief, Boulee used unusually critical language about the government's conduct. "The seizure in this case was certainly not perfect," he wrote, and acknowledged that "the events leading up to this case are, in a variety of ways, unprecedented."
The FBI took the ballots on January 28 as part of what officials described as an investigation into "irregularities" in Fulton County's 2020 election administration. The original search warrant alleged issues including missing ballot images and duplicate ballots. The agency has maintained its actions were legally justified.
County officials filed suit in February to force the return of the seized materials. An elections expert who testified in the case last month told the court that the FBI's justification for seizing the ballots didn't "make sense," noting that the specific ballot issues the bureau cited didn't constitute crimes and that some of the agency's witnesses appeared misinformed about election procedures.
Robb Pitts, chair of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners, responded sharply to the ruling. "I certainly agree with the court that the FBI warrant was 'defective' 'problematic' and 'troubling,' and that the events in this case are 'unprecedented,'" Pitts said. But he added: "I strongly disagree with the judge's denial of Fulton County's request for the FBI to return the election records it wrongly seized." The county has signaled it intends to pursue all available legal options.
The ballot seizure is one of several legal actions connected to Georgia's 2020 election. The Justice Department has separately issued a grand jury subpoena demanding that Fulton County provide names and contact information for all election staff members and volunteers who worked during the 2020 presidential election. The subpoena was made public Monday.
Fulton County sat at the center of the Trump election interference case that resulted in charges against former President Donald Trump and over a dozen allies. Prosecutors alleged attempts to reverse Biden's Georgia victory. Trump denied wrongdoing. Those charges were ultimately dropped after District Attorney Fani Willis was disqualified from the case due to conflict-of-interest issues, and the prosecutor who took over opted to dismiss the indictment.
Author Sarah Mitchell: "A judge can call an FBI seizure defective and unprecedented while still letting the bureau keep what it took, but that doesn't make the outcome sit right with anyone watching how federal agents handle election materials."
Comments