A supposedly confidential judicial misconduct investigation has blown up into the public eye, prompting the Department of Justice to demand that U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross step down from a major Georgia election lawsuit.
The trouble began when federal prosecutors connected the dots between Ross and a heavily redacted watchdog report detailing a string of wild workplace rule-breaking.
The underlying lawsuit involves a high-stakes clash between the Trump administration and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, with federal attorneys seeking an unredacted copy of the state’s voter registration list. The case was assigned to Ross, an Obama appointee. But the DOJ now argues she cannot fairly oversee the litigation.
The push to oust the judge hinges on a recent private reprimand issued by the Judicial Conference of the United States. The oversight committee found that an unnamed judge had committed flagrant misconduct in three distinct ways: carrying on an extramarital affair with a high-ranking law enforcement officer—including having sexual intercourse in chambers during business hours near working staff—attending a partisan political event, and lying to chief judges leading the investigation.
While the judiciary withheld the disciplined judge’s name to protect her privacy, news outlets and online analysts quickly pieced the clues together.
Federal prosecutors noted that various media outlets publicly identified Ross as the subject of the investigation. In their recusal motion, DOJ attorneys stated that if the reports are true, her continued presence on the bench destroys the appearance of judicial impartiality.
A memorandum attached to the motion directly links the scandal to a partisan event honoring Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. According to the filing, the Eleventh Circuit’s Judicial Council determined the subject judge committed misconduct by attending the event for Willis.
The details leaked from the private investigation painted a chaotic picture of the judge’s office environment. A law clerk reported that the judge repeatedly engaged in sexual activity with a uniformed officer in her chambers during work hours within earshot of staff. The clerk also alleged that the judge failed to mentor her clerks, frequently yelled and cursed at them, and on one occasion explicitly told staff she had “too many martinis the night before” at the Willis event.
The recusal battle hits right as the election lawsuit reaches a critical turning point. The court is currently weighing multiple motions to dismiss the case, alongside cross-motions from the Trump administration to compel the production of federal election records.
Rather than proceeding with a scheduled Wednesday hearing on those matters, Ross issued an order putting the entire case on pause while she determines whether she will officially step aside.
READ: Rep. Byron Donalds Drops ‘Shot Clock’ Plan To Blast Through Florida Bureaucracy
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