A federal judge in Georgia decided on Tuesday to quash a grand jury subpoena that the Department of Justice obtained in seeking the names and personal contact information of people who helped administer the 2020 election in Fulton County.
U.S. District Judge William Ray, whom President Donald Trump appointed in 2018, delivered the ruling against the federal government.
“Given the low need for the subpoenaed information and the highly burdensome nature of the disclosure of the same, the Subpoena is unreasonable and must be quashed,” Ray wrote.
The DOJ subpoena from April sought the identities, home addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses of all Fulton County employees and volunteer poll workers during the 2020 presidential election. Fulton County then filed a motion opposing the subpoena, asking a federal court to intervene.
The judge concluded that the statute of limitations for any of the alleged crimes stemming from the 2020 election has expired, meaning the federal government cannot bring charges against any suspects who allegedly interfered in the election because too much time has passed. The federal statute of limitations period generally lasts five years.
A lawyer for the Atlanta-area county based his argument on the statute of limitations and also made the case that the subpoena “will chill participation by election workers” in future elections.
Meanwhile, a federal attorney insisted that the statute of limitations is not relevant because the DOJ is still early in the investigative stage of determining which charges can be filed.
The grand jury subpoena for county records, DOJ lawyer William McComb said, “would simply be a pathway to determine and speak with and interview certain individuals who worked at the polls who may have seen, heard, or done something in and of themselves.”
JUDGE UNSEALS DOJ FIGHT WITH FULTON COUNTY OVER 2020 ELECTION WORKER INFORMATION
For nearly six years, Trump has claimed his second presidential election was stolen from him and, since taking office again, has used his administration to investigate potential voter fraud. Fulton County has been a key source of Trump’s unsubstantiated claims.
In January, the FBI executed a search warrant to seize more than 600 boxes of ballots and other election-related records from the Fulton County Elections Hub and Operations Center. The county challenged the federal action, but in May, a different Trump-appointed federal judge rejected its request requiring the administration to return the ballots.