Fulton County, Georgia, is requesting a federal judge to order the return of the 2020 ballots seized by the FBI as it investigates voter fraud.
Lawyers for the county argued that the document seizure “callously disregards multiple Fourth Amendment rights,” calling the activity a “gross intrusion” of the state’s role in its election process.
The Trump administration previously argued in a February filing that a judge “authorized the FBI to execute a search warrant and seize those records.” Efforts to return the records aim to “disrupt an ongoing federal criminal investigation.”
The U.S. was “scrupulously careful to comply with any Fourth Amendment constraints: it seized the records only after obtaining a warrant based on a magistrate judge’s probable-cause determination,” the DOJ added. “The agents who executed the warrant (after seeking an amended warrant out of an abundance of caution) had no reason to doubt its validity or the magistrate’s determination. That is the antithesis of ‘callous disregard’ for constitutional rights.”
In January, federal agents removed nearly 700 boxes containing ballots and materials linked to the 2020 election after obtaining a search warrant.
The warrant said the seized materials “constitutes evidence of the commission of a criminal offense” and had been “used as the means of committing a criminal offense,” ABC News reported.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was present at the raid, sparking backlash. She defended her presence, declaring in a letter that it was “requested by the President and executed under my broad statutory authority to coordinate, integrate and analyze intelligence related to election security, including counterintelligence, foreign and other malign influence and cybersecurity.”
