U.S. Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) with Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche during Blanche's confirmation hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 15, 2026. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
The Justice Department submitted a court filing with the conservative 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing it should have access to information about the 2020 election workers in Fulton County, Georgia, which includes Atlanta.
Politico legal reporter Josh Gerstein flagged the filing on X Tuesday, citing a July report on the first ruling handed down by U.S. District Judge William Ray that called the DOJ's demand "unreasonable."
He also noted that twice the Justice Department misspelled the word "north."
“Thus, 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’s ability to utilize the power of the Grand Jury to appropriate your private information without a legitimate purpose,” Ray's ruling read at the time.
He went on to argue that prosecutors can work with grand juries, but “that does not give the DOJ the right to use the Grand Jury to do whatever the DOJ wants.”
He also argued that even if he released the details, it “would not lead to information that could be used to charge anyone with anything, at least not any viable charge.”
This stems from President Donald Trump's claim that he won the 2020 election, which he lost. One of those focuses has been on Fulton County, where Trump and his allies think something illegal occurred.
Amusingly, the court filing lists those "who have a known interest in the outcome of this appeal." It lists news outlets like Bloomberg, NBC, Pro Publica, Reuters and the New York Times as interested parties, though they aren't part of the lawsuit.
After the 2020 election, Trump allies found two election workers from Fulton County and made their lives so miserable that they feared even going to the grocery store. MAGA supporters attempted a citizen's arrest on Ruby Freeman, an elderly woman who faced angry Trump supporters banging on her door. She and her daughter, Shaye Moss, testified before Congress about their experience becoming a conspiracy theory during the hearings for the Select Committee on Jan. 6.
The two women successfully sued Rudy Giuliani over his false claims that they committed election fraud in 2020. After a judge found the former New York mayor liable, a jury awarded them $148 million in damages.
The concern is that Trump could use the list to target election workers, encouraging his supporters to harass them over baseless allegations that they helped steal the 2020 election.