A federal judge ruled against the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), quashing the agency’s attempt to obtain the personal information and names of thousands of Fulton County’s 2020 presidential election workers.
"For reasons explained hereinbelow, the Court agrees with Fulton County that, in pursuing the Subpoena, the DOJ is engaged in an 'arbitrary fishing expedition,' such that the Subpoena is unreasonable and must be quashed," U.S. District Judge William M. Ray II wrote in the ruling, deeming the information the agency sought to attain was “staggering.”
The Trump-appointed judge also listed several issues with other aspects of the DOJ’s grand jury subpoena, including the legal mandate’s potential ability to “chill” a state’s ability to hire future poll workers.
"Those who work to run elections ... should be valued and are necessary for successful elections in Fulton County going forward," the ruling asserted.
DOJ & FBI's Attempts To Gather Sensitive Info
Judge Ray II’s ruling comes in response to the DOJ’s attempt to enforce a grand jury subpoena to receive sensitive information, including names, residential addresses, personal telephone numbers, and other personally identifying information of virtually every Fulton County voter poll employee.
The DOJ issued the subpoena after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) served a search warrant at the county’s election hub in Jan. 2026. Authorities seized hundreds of boxes of ballots and other documents related to the presidential election.
Fulton County officials challenged the DOJ’s effort, arguing that the information requested was unnecessary, extremely broad, and put employees at risk who have already faced years-long threats and harassment in response to the election’s results.
Judge Affirms Federal Officials Can Proceed With Election Probes
Judge Ray II affirmed that Congress and the DOJ may proceed with investigations into allegations of election fraud – but grand juries, “which exists to investigate potential crimes and to bring viable indictments,” cannot be used for those probes.
“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.
