Judge rejects Justice Department’s “unreasonable” attempt to obtain names of 2020 election workers in Fulton County

ATLANTA (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice cannot obtain the names and personal contact information of every person who worked during the 2020 election in Fulton County, Georgia, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

The Justice Department in April served a grand jury subpoena seeking the names and personal contact information of county clerks and volunteer poll workers. President Donald Trump has long claimed without evidence that widespread voter fraud in Georgia’s most populous county, a Democratic stronghold, cost him victory in the state in 2020.

Fulton County asked a judge to vacate the subpoena, arguing that it was intended to “target, harass, and punish perceived political opponents of the President” and was “grossly excessive and unconnected with any reasonable need.”

“Given the lack of need for the information requested and the extremely burdensome nature of its disclosure, the subpoena is unreasonable and should be reversed,” U.S. District Judge William Ray wrote in his ruling, calling the scope of the request “astonishing.”

Emails seeking comment were sent to both the Department of Justice and Fulton County.

While grand juries often work with federal prosecutors to investigate alleged crimes, “this does not give the Department of Justice the right to use the grand jury to do whatever the Department of Justice wants,” wrote Wray, who was nominated by Trump to the grand jury.

Even if records requested by the Justice Department could help find people who worked for the county during the 2020 election and who support the theory that the election was unfair, the information cannot be used to charge anyone, Wray wrote.

“That’s because the statute of limitations for any potential crime arising from the 2020 election has long expired,” he wrote.

The subpoena came after the FBI in January issued a search warrant at the Fulton County election center and seized hundreds of ballot boxes and other documents from the 2020 election. A federal judge in May rejected the county’s request to force the federal government to return ballots.

Read more: The Justice Department can keep 2020 ballots seized from Fulton County in Georgia, judge rules.

The Justice Department said in a lawsuit that the subpoena was “the next step in the normal investigative process” and that it was seeking “records identifying persons with relevant knowledge.”

Kamal Ghaly, the district attorney, said the subpoena “would discourage election workers’ participation” and that the statute of limitations for any of the alleged misconduct had already expired.

Justice Department attorney William McComb said the statute of limitations issue is not relevant at the investigation stage. He added that the goal of the investigation is to find out what charges can be brought.

He said: “What I want to say is that, as we sit here now, we are not sure what charges can be brought. That is the main goal of the investigation.”

The judge noted that the Justice Department had expressed concern about potential criminal acts in the years following the election, including the county’s alleged failure to maintain electronic ballot images. But he noted that the subpoena seeks information related to what happened during the 2020 election and its immediate aftermath.

“In these hyper-political times we currently live in, there are certainly some who disagree with this decision because they believe the allegations of fraud in the 2020 election and believe these allegations should be brought to light,” Wray wrote.

He added that nothing prevents the continued investigation of those allegations by people who believe the allegations — such as Congress or even the Justice Department — but the power of the grand jury, “which exists to investigate potential crimes and produce viable indictments” cannot be used for that purpose. Otherwise, he wrote, anyone in authority could use the grand jury process to subpoena citizens’ personal information “without a legitimate law enforcement purpose.”

“Therefore, everyone, whether you support the President or not, whether you believe the 2020 election was fair or whether you believe it was not, should be concerned about the Department of Justice’s ability to use the power of the grand jury to seize your private information without a legitimate purpose,” Wray wrote.