Judge Rules Justice Department Can Retain Seized Georgia 2020 Ballots

U.S. District Judge J.P. Boulee has ruled that the Justice Department may retain more than 600 boxes of 2020 election ballots seized by the FBI from Fulton County, Georgia, rejecting the county's request to force their return despite acknowledging flaws in the affidavit used to secure the search warrant.

The Details

In a 68-page ruling issued May 6, 2026, Judge Boulee concluded that the shortcomings in the FBI's affidavit did not reach the legal standard of "callous disregard" for the county's constitutional rights, which would have been required to compel the return of the seized materials. Boulee wrote that while the affidavit was "far from perfect," this was not a situation where an officer intentionally lied or omitted all facts that might undermine probable cause. The judge also noted that Fulton County failed to demonstrate that it needed the original documents or that it would be irreparably harmed without them, and he pointed out that the Department of Justice has provided the county with copies of the seized records.

The FBI seized the ballots from a Fulton County warehouse in Union City, Georgia on January 28, 2026, executing a search warrant roughly 23 days after opening a criminal investigation on January 5. The probe was launched following a referral from Kurt Olsen, a 2020 election denier now serving in the White House. According to CNN, former FBI officials described the timeline from investigation opening to warrant execution as unprecedented for a matter already subject to civil litigation, which had begun in December 2025.

Andrew McCabe, a CNN Senior Law Enforcement Analyst and former FBI deputy director, commented on the speed of the operation, saying, "This all happened very quickly, particularly for a case like this, which I think raises the question very legitimately, why was this such a priority?" McCabe also noted that because the evidence was not at risk of disappearing, "political pressure could be the motivation behind the FBI's decision to move quickly on the probe."

Fulton County officials argued that the warrant relied on faulty evidence and that the criminal investigation appeared to be, in their words, a "pretext to acquire records that this Administration was unable to quickly secure via the civil litigation process." An election expert testified in March that much of the evidence cited in the FBI affidavit appeared to show a misunderstanding of how elections are conducted.

Justice Department lawyers have said they are investigating alleged "irregularities" in the 2020 presidential election in Fulton County, identifying two potential violations: the failure to maintain election records for 22 months and the prohibition on procuring or tabulating false or fraudulent ballots. However, DOJ lawyers have not identified any individual targets of the investigation and have not disputed that the statute of limitations may have expired on both crimes under investigation.

Context

Fulton County, which includes most of Atlanta, is heavily Democratic and was a central focus of Donald Trump's false claims of widespread election fraud following the 2020 presidential election. Georgia's votes in that race were counted three times, including once by hand, and each count affirmed Democrat Joe Biden's win in the state. State officials had conducted multiple recounts and audits confirming the result.

Boulee was appointed by Trump during his first term, and the ruling marks a rare court victory for the president's Justice Department in investigations he has demanded. The January 28 raid was attended by Tulsi Gabbard, Trump's Director of National Intelligence, in an unusual move for an official whose role is focused on foreign threats.

Fulton County prosecutors had previously sought new 2020 election charges against defendants as part of the ongoing legal aftermath of the election.

What's Next

With Boulee's ruling, the Department of Justice will retain control of the original Fulton County 2020 election ballots while its investigation continues. The investigation has so far produced no named individual targets, and questions remain about whether the statute of limitations has expired for the two potential violations DOJ has cited.