Judge to hear Fulton County's arguments for return of 2020 election material

Politics Judge to hear arguments from Fulton County seeking return of 2020 election material seized by FBI By Jacob Rosen Jacob Rosen Justice Department Reporter Jake Rosen is a reporter covering the Department of Justice. He was previously a campaign digital reporter covering President Trump's 2024 campaign and also served as an associate producer for "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan." Read Full Bio Jacob Rosen March 27, 2026 / 6:00 AM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google Attorneys for Fulton County, Georgia, are set to argue in federal court Friday for the return of over 650 boxes of material related to the 2020 election after the FBI seized the boxes at the county's elections office last month while executing a search warrant. Last month, the FBI executed a search warrant at a Fulton County elections office, seeking to take "all physical ballots" from the 2020 vote, as well as tapes from vote-tabulating machines, ballot images and voter rolls. After the search, Fulton County Commission Chairman Robb Pitts and the county's Board of Registration and Elections filed a lawsuit to compel the return of the boxes. The county has asked for the "return of all original seized materials" and asked the judge for an order instructing the government "to maintain, but not review, any copies of the seized materials until this matter is resolved." Fulton County said in court filings that the Justice Department's search and seizure of documents "callously disregards multiple Fourth Amendment rights," of the county and was a "gross intrusion" of the state's role in elections. The county asked U.S. District Judge Jean-Paul Boulee to order the return of all of the documents. Boulee was nominated to the federal bench in 2019 by President Trump. On Thursday, Boulee ruled that he would not force the FBI agent who submitted a sworn affidavit in support of the search of Fulton County's election hub to testify at the hearing, after the county attempted to force him to speak about th...