ATLANTA – A federal judge is set to hear arguments on Friday regarding a lawsuit initiated by officials in Fulton County, Georgia, demanding the return of ballots and other materials related to the 2020 presidential election that were seized by the FBI. U.S. District Judge J.P. Boulee indicated that the hearing was necessary after the involved parties were unable to reach an agreement during court-mandated mediation.
The FBI's seizure occurred on January 28, 2026, and targeted a warehouse in Union City, near Atlanta, which acts as the elections hub for Fulton County, the most populous area in Georgia and a predominantly Democratic region. This county has been at the center of baseless claims posited by Donald Trump and associates regarding alleged widespread electoral fraud that, according to them, cost Trump the 2020 election.
This FBI action is one of multiple maneuvers undertaken by the Trump administration, concerning many Democrats and election officials who fear that law enforcement is being utilized to settle personal grievances of the former president. There are also concerns that the administration might attempt to disrupt upcoming midterm elections. Recent actions by the FBI have included using a subpoena to acquire records related to a controversial election audit in Maricopa County, Arizona, another crucial battleground state that Trump lost.
The Justice Department is currently engaged in legal battles in various states to gain access to voter data that consists of sensitive personal information, with many election officials, including some Republicans, warning that providing this data could infringe upon state and federal privacy laws.
Fulton County's attorneys asserted in a court filing that the seizure of their documents is "improper and unjustified," showcasing a "callous disregard" for the Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure. They argued that the Justice Department seeks to establish a precedent favoring unrestricted federal interference in local election administration.
Conversely, attorneys from the Justice Department contended that the thorough preparation of the affidavit presented to a judge demonstrates the opposite of "callous disregard" for constitutional rights. They suggested that Fulton County officials are striving to obstruct an ongoing federal criminal investigation.
The Justice Department claims they are investigating potential irregularities during the 2020 presidential election within Fulton County, identifying possible violations of two laws. One of these laws mandates that election records be preserved for a period of 22 months, while the other prohibits the procurement, casting, or tabulation of false or fictitious ballots.
Specific allegations mentioned in the investigation include whether ballot images were properly retained, whether some ballots were counted multiple times, and whether unopened mail-in ballots were incorrectly tallied as absentee ballots. Fulton County's legal representatives argued that the cited "deficiencies" are common human errors that do not indicate any intentional misconduct and hence do not substantiate probable cause.
To bolster their claims, Fulton officials included a sworn statement from Ryan Macias, an expert in election technology and security who aided the county during the 2020 elections. Macias contended that the affidavit contains numerous false or misleading assertions and highlighted explanations for the alleged deficiencies. Independent reviews and an investigation by the Georgia secretary of state have challenged the affidavit's core allegations, which Fulton lawyers referred to as replete with untrustworthy testimonies with extreme biases.
It is noteworthy that Georgia’s votes in the 2020 presidential election were counted three times, including a hand count, all of which confirmed Joe Biden’s victory.
Federal lawyers countered that the claims regarding the FBI's alleged misleading information are unfounded, asserting that the supposed inaccuracies indicated by Fulton County's representatives are either illusory or non-critical. They also emphasized that the expiration of the statute of limitations on possible crimes does not invalidate the existence of probable cause.
The Justice Department additionally expressed skepticism regarding whether the election materials had been "properly retained and preserved" and pointed out that Fulton County officials have limited interest in the records since the clerk of courts previously requested judicial permission to destroy them. A federal magistrate judge had reviewed the affidavit and sanctioned the search warrant. Fulton County attempted to summon the FBI agent who authored the affidavit to testify at the Friday hearing, but the Justice Department opposed this, and the judge ruled in favor of the federal government, quashing the subpoena.
