Nearly two months after the FBI searched Fulton County election offices and seized boxes of 2020-related materials, a federal judge heard arguments in a key hearing over the fate of those records.
Fulton County lawyers asked the court to order the Justice Department to return the ballots and other materials taken in the March search, arguing the seizure violated the Fourth Amendment. They contended the FBI affidavit used to justify the search was misleading because it omitted hundreds of pages of material that have since been uncovered, and that the affidavit followed narratives promoted by political figures who claimed the 2020 election was rigged. County attorneys stressed concerns over the handling of sensitive voter data and the local officials’ right to control election records.
The Department of Justice and FBI told the court they are conducting a criminal investigation into possible irregularities around the treatment, procurement, casting and tabulation of election records in 2020. DOJ attorneys warned that returning the materials now could disrupt that federal probe. Multiple prior state and federal reviews, including statements from Georgia’s Republican secretary of state Brad Raffensperger and Republican Governor Brian Kemp, have found no evidence of widespread fraud that would have affected the outcome in Georgia; Raffensperger and Kemp have publicly defended the legitimacy of the 2020 results.
Fulton County officials described getting a court hearing as a victory in itself. The county’s chair said that while officials are concerned the records were removed from the election facility, they welcome the opportunity to press for their return and to have the dispute resolved through due process. County lawyers emphasized worries about the potential exposure of sensitive personal data if the documents remain outside county control beyond the scope of the criminal investigation.
CBS News correspondent Skyler Henry, reporting from Atlanta, noted the dispute centers on what the FBI’s affidavit did and did not say and whether omitted material altered the affidavit’s portrayal of the 2020 election. He also explained that the judge will have to weigh several complicated issues — including what the FBI has done with the materials and what can be released or returned — and that any ruling is not expected in the immediate days following the hearing.
The case adds another chapter to post-2020 legal battles over election administration in Georgia. For now, the seized materials remain in federal custody as the court considers the county’s motion and the government’s contention that the investigation must proceed without interference.