A federal judge in Georgia on Tuesday blocked the Justice Department from obtaining personal information about election workers in Fulton County, dealing a setback to the Trump administration's ongoing probe into unsubstantiated claims of 2020 election fraud.
U.S. District Judge William Ray ruled that the DOJ could not use a grand jury subpoena as a tool to investigate those allegations, nor could it demand private data without a legitimate law enforcement purpose. The April subpoena sought names, positions, residential and email addresses, and personal cell phone numbers of staff and volunteers who worked the 2020 election in the heavily Democratic county.
Ray described the government's request as “staggering,” noting that the information sought was so sensitive that a private company failing to protect it would likely face a data breach class-action lawsuit. “Everyone, whether you support the President or you do not, or whether you believe the 2020 Election was fair or believe that it was not, should be concerned about the DOJ's ability to utilize the power of the Grand Jury to appropriate your private information without a legitimate purpose,” the judge wrote.
The Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections had objected in May, arguing the subpoena would cover “thousands of employees and volunteers.” The judge clarified that his order did not weigh in on whether the DOJ had a legitimate interest in investigating alleged fraud, but simply found the subpoena overbroad.
Fulton County has been a focal point of President Trump's baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen. In January, the FBI raided the county elections office, seizing ballots, tabulator tapes, ballot images, and voter rolls. That raid followed a DOJ complaint requesting those materials. The latest ruling comes amid broader legal battles over election integrity and federal overreach. A federal judge also recently blocked a USPS plan to restrict mail-in ballot delivery, a move critics said aimed to suppress voting.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) hailed the order as an “important win” in a statement, but warned that the Trump administration would continue its pursuit. “We know Trump will do whatever he can to rig the elections and that his attack dog at the DOJ, Todd Blanche, will do his bidding,” Schumer wrote, adding that Democrats would use every avenue to stop what he called anti-democratic efforts. Blanche, the acting attorney general, has faced intense scrutiny; over 1,200 former DOJ staff have urged the Senate to block his confirmation as permanent head of the department.
The Hill has reached out to the DOJ for comment. The ruling does not end the investigation, but it sharply limits the government's ability to demand personal data from election workers without clear justification. Legal experts say the decision could set a precedent for how aggressively the DOJ can probe election administration.
