Fulton County Says FBI Raid on 2020 Ballots Showed 'Callous Disregard' for Constitutional Rights

Fulton County officials in Georgia have asked a federal judge to order the return of roughly 700 boxes of ballots and related records seized by the FBI on Jan. 28, arguing in newly unsealed court filings that the seizure displayed a "callous disregard" for the constitutional rights of voters and county employees.

Judge Orders Partial Unsealing Of Prosecutors' Arguments

U.S. District Judge J.P. Boulee, a Trump appointee, is overseeing the county’s challenge to the seizure, which involved 24 pallets of materials taken from a warehouse near Atlanta. On Saturday Boulee unsealed parts of Fulton County’s motion and ordered the Justice Department to publicly file by 5 p.m. Tuesday the prosecutors’ arguments that persuaded Magistrate Judge Catherine Salinas to authorize the search warrant. Boulee said the public’s interest in open judicial proceedings warranted disclosure, while allowing redaction of "non-governmental witness" identities.

What The Warrant Cites — But Not Why

The available search warrant cites two federal statutes: one criminalizing voting-related fraud in federal elections and another requiring that ballots in federal contests be preserved for 22 months after Election Day. The precise focus of the federal investigation that led agents to remove the physical ballots, tabulator tapes, ballot images and voter rolls has not been publicly detailed while the underlying affidavit remains under seal.

Fulton County's Arguments

Fulton County Attorney Y. Soo Jo told the court the county and voters have already faced exhaustive post-election review. "Claims that the 2020 election results were fraudulent or otherwise invalid have been exhaustively reviewed and, without exception, refuted," Jo wrote, noting that 11 post-election lawsuits challenging Georgia’s processes failed to prove fraud.

Jo also argues the criminal seizure is procedurally improper because the criminal statute cited may be time-barred by a five-year statute of limitations and because the ballot-preservation rule the government invoked had a 22-month retention period. She further warned that the Justice Department’s criminal warrant effectively scoops up the very materials that are the subject of a December civil suit the Department filed and a separate state lawsuit, thereby circumventing civil discovery and its limits.

"Use of the criminal warrant process to take immediate possession of the same records that are the subject of these lawsuits has the effect of circumventing civil judicial proceedings," Jo wrote. "This use of criminal process to bypass the limitations and costs of civil discovery should not be permitted by the Court."

Political Reactions

Democratic lawmakers criticized the seizure. Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) called the raid "alarming at every level," questioning why agents would execute such an operation five years after the election and after multiple recounts in Georgia. Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) said he requested a meeting with the U.S. Attorney General and described the action as among "awful efforts at voter suppression."

The FBI defended its handling of the operation. The agency’s director told media outlets that agents executed a lawful search warrant, collected evidence, and presented it to a magistrate judge who found probable cause.

Press Access And Next Steps

News organizations including POLITICO have moved to unseal the full set of records related to the seizure. The Justice Department had not publicly responded to Fulton County’s motion as of Saturday, and Judge Boulee had not yet scheduled a hearing on the county’s request to return the materials.

Why this matters: The dispute raises questions about the limits of criminal process when parallel civil litigation exists, the timing of election-related investigations years after an election, and the balance between transparency and witness privacy in sensitive court filings.