Georgia election ballots hearing: What to know
All Rise News will report from federal court in Atlanta when a federal judge considers whether the Trump FBI must return 2020 election ballots.
All Rise News paid subscribers make this live reporting possible.
Stay tuned for a Substack Live broadcast outside the courthouse around 1 p.m. Eastern Time.
Nearly two months to the day after the Trump FBI’s raid of Georgia election offices, a federal judge in Atlanta will decide whether the seizure of 2020 election ballots rested on a “callous disregard” of the state’s sovereignty and constitutional rights.
On Jan. 28, 2026, the FBI seized 656 boxes of Fulton County ballots after a federal magistrate signed off on a warrant.
The unsealed affidavit backing the warrant showed the investigation began with a referral from Kurt Olsen, one of the attorneys who helped Donald Trump try to subvert the 2020 election. In the affidavit, FBI agent Hugh Raymond Evans didn’t accuse any suspect of committing a crime, and the two statutes that he claimed could have been violated were time-barred after five years.
In early February, Fulton County Board of Commissioners Chairman Robb Pitts sued for the return of the ballots, and a federal judge scheduled a hearing on Friday to hear testimony and evidence on the matter.
Here’s what to know before the proceedings begin:
What’s at stake?
Since Joe Biden’s electoral victory, Trump has never relented in his effort to rewrite the history of his defeat, but this legal battle may also have ramifications for future elections.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, another former Trump attorney and election denier, has filed lawsuits seeking to access election-related records in at least 30 states. So far, those lawsuits have failed.
The Fulton County raid can be understood as an example of the Trump Justice Department’s ongoing attempts to access similar information through criminal procedure. The FBI also subpoenaed records related to a partisan audit of the 2020 elections results in Maricopa County, Ariz. The success or failure of Fulton County’s lawsuit could affect efforts to access ballots in other states where Trump tried to overturn Biden’s victories.
Some of the damage from the raid might not be reparable. One Fulton County official told All Rise News that “Pandora’s box” already has been broken, along with the chain of custody for the ballots. That makes it easier for Trump to spin false 2020 election narratives and harder for Georgia to debunk those lies.
What will happen at the hearing?
U.S. District Judge J.P. Boulee, a Trump appointee, scheduled the proceedings as an evidentiary hearing, giving each of the parties 2 ½ hours to use for arguments and examination of the witnesses.
Fulton County had wanted to grill Agent Evans about his “material omissions and erroneous statements,” but Judge Boulee quashed a subpoena to compel the agent’s testimony.
Boulee accepted the Trump Justice Department’s position that Evans may have been forced to “reveal information about an ongoing criminal investigation.”
“In questioning SA Evans regarding the alleged omissions and misstatements in the warrant affidavit, it is reasonable to anticipate that information concerning the process and scope of the DOJ’s investigation would be implicated,” Boulee wrote in an order on Thursday.
The fact that the hearing will take place at all represents a partial victory for Fulton County. Justice Department attorneys argued that the evidentiary hearing shouldn’t take place at all because Fulton County doesn’t have a property right over the ballots and that the government couldn’t have shown “callous disregard” for the state’s rights because a magistrate signed off on the warrant.
“The court disagrees that the hearing should be vacated because the magistrate judge signed the warrant,” Boulee wrote last week. “In the Court’s view, the existence of a warrant is not dispositive of the callous disregard inquiry under Rule 41(g). Indeed, courts have expressly rejected the notion that a warrant automatically insulates the government from relief.”
Who are the attorneys?
Fulton County retained nationally prominent outside counsel dedicated to fighting Trump 2.0-era overreach, including Abbe Lowell and Norm Eisen.
Lowell has represented Trump targets New York Attorney General Letitia James, Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, independent journalist Don Lemon and others. Eisen, a former ambassador and co-founder of The Contrarian, has challenged scores of Trump’s second term policies through his Democracy Defenders Fund.
On the Trump administration’s side, a notable feature of the Fulton County raid is that political appointees far outside of Georgia have led it. Trump’s Justice Department designated the Eastern District of Missouri’s U.S. Attorney Thomas Albus as the so-called special attorney in charge of the probe.
Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, the third top official in the Justice Department who represented Trump’s accused co-conspirators in the classified documents case, has taken the lead in this case. The Justice Department’s political leadership rarely injected themselves in individual cases before Trump’s second term, but that has become a routine occurrence in cases involving Trump’s critics or personal interests.
When and where is the hearing?
The evidentiary hearing will begin at the Richard B. Russell Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse located at 75 Ted Turner Drive, S.W. in Atlanta at 9 a.m. Eastern Time on Fri., March 27.
This case should set the precedent for future voting in any state. Georgia election officials repeatedly stated that their election process was secure.
I remember the two women falsely accused of voting irregularities that had their lives threatened by comments made that were false by one of Trump's friends.
I am watching closely as lies have consequences and seizing highly classified materials, the parties should be held accountable that once again caused taxpayers' to pay for something unnecessary.
This is going to be interesting… “Stay tuned” has never been more relevant these days. Thanks Adam.