Georgia judge deals fatal blow to MAGA election lawsuit

A Georgia judge has officially dismissed lawsuit filed by supporters of President Donald Trump in Fulton County, Georgia, and paused another one.

That's according to a Monday article in the New York Times, which reported that Fulton County Superior Court Judge C.I. McBurney — who was appointed to the bench in 2012 by then-Gov. Nathan Deal (R) — ruled against conservative activist and 2020 election denier Garland Favorito on Monday. Favorito filed this particular lawsuit over 2020 ballots in Fulton County, and prior to issuing his decision, Judge McBurney said he planned to allow the ballots to be viewed upon request by members of the public.

However, after the Trump administration's FBI raided an election facility in Fulton County in late January, Judge McBurney ruled that because the ballots now technically belong to the Justice Department, the issue was effectively out of his hands. Favorito, who supported the raid, said McBurney's decision was "legally moot since the FBI has the ballots."

"We are left to hope that the bureau and the Department of Justice handle the ballots and related records with the care required to preserve and protect their integrity," McBurney wrote in his Monday decision.

McBurney also issued a stay in a separate civil case seeking the 2020 Fulton County ballots filed by the Georgia State Board of Elections, which is packed full of Trump-supporting Republican activists. The Georgia judge noted in the separate ruling that the ballots "were, until recently, here in Fulton County. Now, however, they are somewhere else. Where exactly the court cannot say." He observed that because the warrant was signed by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri, the Fulton County ballots may actually be in the Show Me State.

Monday's ruling comes just days after McBurney dismissed a separate lawsuit seeking to review the disputed Fulton County ballots, saying plaintiffs (which included Favorito) "presented zero legal or factual question" about the county's liability for their claims. Judge McBurney also ordered plaintiffs to pay roughly $40,000 in fines.

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