Judge Greenlights DOJ to Keep Seized 2020 Fulton County Ballots Amidst Election Fraud Claims

The Justice Department scored a significant legal win this week when U.S. District Judge J.P. Boulee ruled that it can keep the 2020 election ballots and related materials seized from Fulton County, Georgia. The FBI had taken the ballots from a warehouse near Atlanta in January, targeting the state’s most populous and heavily Democratic county — a longtime focus of baseless election fraud claims by former President Donald Trump and his supporters.

Fulton County lawyers argued that the seizure violated constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure and demanded the immediate return of the ballots and any electronic copies made by the DOJ. But Judge Boulee’s 68-page ruling dismissed those arguments, acknowledging that while the seizure “was certainly not perfect,” the county failed to prove its rights were blatantly ignored or that it would suffer irreparable harm if the materials remained with the government.

The Justice Department maintains it is investigating “irregularities” during the 2020 presidential election in Fulton County under statutes requiring election records to be preserved for 22 months and prohibiting fraudulent ballots. Yet it is critical to remember that Georgia’s votes were recounted three times — including a hand recount — all confirming Joe Biden’s win.

This ruling comes amid a broader pattern of the Trump administration weaponizing federal law enforcement resources to dig into past elections in key swing states. The FBI has subpoenaed election records in Arizona’s Maricopa County and demanded ballots from Michigan’s Wayne County for the 2024 election. Meanwhile, the DOJ is locked in legal battles with several states over access to sensitive voter data, drawing bipartisan concern over privacy and potential political harassment.

Democrats warn that these moves are less about election integrity and more about targeting political opponents and undermining trust in democracy ahead of the midterms. Fulton County itself accused the DOJ of “callous disregard” for constitutional rights, suggesting the criminal seizure was a tactic to bypass slower civil litigation.

The Trump administration insists it is simply pursuing legitimate investigations to protect future elections. But with repeated court rulings upholding the integrity of the 2020 results and mounting evidence of political motivations behind these probes, the pattern looks more like a vendetta than a genuine law enforcement effort.

At Only Clowns Are Orange, we will continue to track these developments closely, exposing how the Trump administration’s election fraud claims and federal investigations threaten democratic norms and civil rights. The fight for electoral accountability is real — and it’s far from over.