Judge calls subpoena’s scope ‘staggering’ and ‘unreasonable’
The U.S. Department of Justice cannot obtain the names and personal contact information of every person who worked during the 2020 election in Georgia’s Fulton County, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge William Ray quashed a grand jury subpoena the Justice Department served in April. The subpoena sought the names and personal contact information of all county employees and volunteer poll workers. Fulton County had asked the judge to quash the subpoena, arguing in a court filing that it was intended to “target, harass and punish the President’s perceived political opponents” and that it was “grossly over broad and untethered to any reasonable need.”
Judge Ray agreed with the county’s argument. “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 in his ruling. He called the scope of the request “staggering.”
The ruling is the latest development in a continuing legal dispute between Fulton County and the Justice Department over access to 2020 election records. The FBI executed a search warrant at a county elections facility in January and seized ballots and related materials, as MSI previously reported. A federal judge later ruled that the Justice Department did not have to return the seized ballots.