{"id":932,"date":"2026-07-07T23:10:51","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T23:10:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=932"},"modified":"2026-07-07T23:10:51","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T23:10:51","slug":"judge-voids-a-staggering-doj-bid-for-georgia-election-workers-personal-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=932","title":{"rendered":"Judge Voids a ‘Staggering’ DOJ Bid for Georgia Election Workers’ Personal Data"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the Justice Department cannot collect personal information about people who worked during the 2020 election in Georgia\u2019s most populous county \u2014 dealing yet another legal blow to the agency\u2019s efforts to investigate baseless claims of voter fraud.<\/p>\n

Read more Democrats Battle the Clock \u2014 And Each Other \u2014 To Replace Platner<\/a><\/p>\n

In April, DOJ prosecutors directed a federal grand jury to subpoena Fulton County \u2014 a Democratic stronghold and frequent target of President Donald Trump\u2019s ire \u2014 in tandem with a wider attempt<\/u><\/span> to force four other states to produce statewide voter registration lists. The agency sought the names, address and telephone numbers for thousands of workers across various functions on Election Day, from poll workers to bus drivers who managed mobile voting sites.<\/p>\n

That request was \u201cstaggering,\u201d U.S. District Judge William Ray .<\/p>\n

The DOJ subpoenaed the records well after the statute of limitations for any 2020 election-adjacent crime had expired \u2014 the court\u2019s analysis could have been different had the agency filed \u201cexpeditiously\u201d after Trump\u2019s first year back in office, Ray wrote.<\/p>\n

Ray, a Trump appointee, said while his ruling to quash the subpoena comes during \u201chyper-political times,\u201d the Justice Department does not have the ability to issue such an \u201cunreasonable\u201d request \u2014 particularly because the data in question would not lead to \u201cany viable charge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Sen. Bernie Sanders Calls for Graham Platner to Drop Out<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThus, 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\u2019s ability to utilize the power of the Grand Jury to appropriate your private information without a legitimate purpose,\u201d the ruling read.<\/p>\n

The Justice Department often works with grand juries on criminal investigations, but \u201cthat does not give the DOJ the right to use the Grand Jury to do whatever the DOJ wants,\u201d Ray wrote. The subpoena had directed the county to provide records to an out-of-state DOJ lawyer or the FBI agent who moved to seize the county\u2019s 2020 ballots earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Trump has vowed to investigate the 2020 election since losing to former President Joe Biden, moving aggressively to do so during his return to office. In December, the DOJ sued<\/u><\/span> Fulton County for failing to produce records. The following month, armed FBI agents raided<\/u><\/span> the Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center located on the outskirts of Atlanta, seizing over 600 boxes of records \u2014 documents the agency was allowed to retain despite flaws in their execution of the search, a federal judge ruled in May.<\/p>\n

Read more Republican Leaders Say They\u2019ve Spoken With Hospitalized McConnell<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.S. District Judge William Ray, a Trump appointee, said the data in question would not lead to \u201cany viable charge.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":931,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-courts"],"yoast_head":"\nJudge Voids a 'Staggering' DOJ Bid for Georgia Election Workers' Personal Data - Modern Home Journals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=932\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Judge Voids a 'Staggering' DOJ Bid for Georgia Election Workers' Personal Data - Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"U.S. District Judge William Ray, a Trump appointee, said the data in question would not lead to \u201cany viable charge.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=932\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-07T23:10:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=932#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=932\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"headline\":\"Judge Voids a ‘Staggering’ DOJ Bid for Georgia Election Workers’ Personal Data\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-07T23:10:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=932\"},\"wordCount\":453,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=932#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/12adced45836909d43143f8f2317706a-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Courts\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=932#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=932\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=932\",\"name\":\"Judge Voids a 'Staggering' DOJ Bid for Georgia Election Workers' Personal Data - Modern Home Journals\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=932#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=932#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/12adced45836909d43143f8f2317706a-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-07T23:10:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=932#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=932\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=932#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/12adced45836909d43143f8f2317706a-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/12adced45836909d43143f8f2317706a-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1712,\"caption\":\"An FBI employee stands inside the Fulton County Election HUB as the FBI takes Fulton County 2020 Election ballots, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, in Union City, Ga., near Atlanta. 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