Overview
- U.S. District Judge William M. Ray II quashed the April grand jury subpoena on Tuesday, saying the demand for names, home addresses, phone numbers and emails for thousands of 2020 Fulton County election workers was unreasonable.
- The judge wrote the scope of the request was “staggering,” warned it would chill future election participation, and said the probable expiration of statutes of limitations made the data unlikely to lead to viable prosecutions.
- Ray also questioned the subpoena’s grand jury provenance by noting no evidence that the Northern District of Georgia grand jury itself sought the records rather than out-of-district prosecutors using the grand jury’s name.
- The Justice Department told the court the list would be a normal investigative step to identify and interview people with relevant knowledge, argued that statutes of limitations do not foreclose investigative needs, and said it is weighing whether to appeal or pursue other options.
- The decision leaves in place a separate May ruling that allowed the FBI to retain more than 600 boxes of 2020 ballots and records seized in January, and it protects many local election workers from turning over sensitive contact data while the broader investigation continues.