Election integrity just scored a massive victory in Georgia. A federal judge flatly denied Fulton County's desperate bid to force the FBI to return more than 600 boxes of 2020 election records—evidence seized in a stunning January raid that the county wanted desperately to bury.
Judge J.P. Boulee didn't just say no—he dismantled the county's legal arguments piece by piece. He ruled that Fulton County failed to meet the sky-high bar required to reclaim property under an active criminal investigation. The message was clear: no one gets special treatment, not even a powerful county government.
The county's lawyers, including Norm Eisen and Abbe Lowell, tried to frame the FBI's seizure as an "unlawful search and seizure" that trampled constitutional rights. But the Department of Justice fired back with a brutal truth: governments don't have the same constitutional rights as citizens. The judge agreed.
Boulee's ruling was laced with sharp language. He wrote that the county failed to show any "callous disregard" for their rights—the key legal hurdle they needed to clear. That failure alone was enough to sink their case.
But the judge didn't exactly give the FBI a clean bill of health. He pointed out that parts of the affidavit used to get the warrant were "problematic" and even "misleading" in some spots. Yet he still concluded that the warrant was solid—because the agent presented evidence that could both hurt and help the case.
This wasn't a situation where the FBI lied or hid the truth, Boulee emphasized. It was a straightforward investigation into something that has never happened before in American history. And the law, he insisted, applies equally to everyone—whether you're a citizen or a county government.
The judge's own words cut like a knife: "Our law applies to all, without regard to numbers, wealth, or rank." That single sentence echoed through the courtroom and beyond. It was a rebuke to anyone who thought the rules could be bent because of who was involved.
In the end, the FBI keeps the evidence. The investigation continues. And Fulton County is left staring at a legal defeat that could have massive implications for what those 600 boxes actually contain.
