Judge Appointed by Obama, Tutored by Fani Willis, and Caught in Sex Scandal Faces Calls for Impeachment

The apology by Judge Eleanor Ross for “harmful, offensive, and unprofessional behavior” relating to a sexual affair she pursued in her judicial chambers during working hours appears unlikely to staunch the growing push for her impeachment.Judge Ross, a federal district judge at Atlanta appointed by President Obama, wrote to her clerks on Monday that she was “sorry for exposing you to my inappropriate personal relationship during your clerkship, and for the harm that I have caused you. My actions were patently wrong, and there is no excuse.”An investigation launched by the chief judge, William Pryor, of the 11th United States Appeals Circuit — the court that oversees Judge Ross — found that she engaged in sexual activity with a high-ranking uniformed police officer in her office during working hours. Judge Ross received a “private reprimand” and agreed not to pursue the chief judgeship of the Northern District of Georgia. At first, the judge “specifically denied” the allegations before coming clean. Now, she has issued a second apology. In her latest letter, Judge Ross calls her earlier mea culpa “entirely deficient, as I did not take full accountability for my actions, and I failed to give you the apology that you deserve.” Judge Pryor also found that Judge Ross “rarely, if ever, substantively edited civil orders the clerks drafted.” Her clerks alleged that she fostered an “eggshell culture.”Two Peach State congressmen, Andrew Clyde, and Clay Fuller — both Republicans — filed separate impeachment resolutions against Judge Ross, both for “high crimes and misdemeanors.” Both filings cite improper sexual activity at work and her lying about it to investigators. Mr. Clyde also cites judicial misconduct for attending a fundraiser for the district attorney of Fulton County, Fani Willis, in 2024.“Judge Ross’s deeply disturbing actions prove she is incapable of displaying integrity or showing impartiality. She’s simply unfit to remain a U.S. District Court Judge for the Northern District of Georgia,” Mr. Clyde said in a statement.Before Judge Ross joined the bench she served as a prosecutor in Ms. Willis’s office. That relationship has attracted the attention of the Department of Justice, which wants her removed from ongoing litigation over the seizure by the federales of Fulton County’s election records from the 2020 vote.The DOJ alleges that it is investigating “irregularities that occurred during the 2020 presidential election in the County.” Last month Judge J.P. Boulee, who presides on the same bench as Judge Ross, ruled that the DOJ is not required to return the ballots it confiscated in January. Georgia’s secretary of state, Bradley Raffensperger, contends that Georgia law protects confidential voter data unless specific legal conditions are met.Earlier this month Mr. Raffensperger finished last in a field of three candidates contending for the Republican nomination for Georgia governor. Judge Boulee acknowledged that “the seizure in this case was certainly not perfect” but determined that the county did not establish that its rights were callously disregarded “either through the lack of probable cause, omissions in the Affidavit, or by the manner of the execution of the seizure.” The Constitution provides that federal judges “shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour.” That means that jurists confirmed by the Senate hold lifetime appointments — unless they are impeached. The last federal judge to be impeached was Thomas Porteous Jr. of the Eastern District of Louisiana. He was convicted by the Senate for perjury and bribery in 2010.For Judge Ross to be impeached, half of the House of Representatives would have to vote in favor. The current partisan breakdown is 218 Democrats and 212 Republicans. For her to be convicted two thirds of the Senate would have to vote in favor. Last year President Trump called for the impeachment of Judge James Boasberg, who ruled against the administration’s use of the 1797 Alien Enemies Act. That earned a brushback from Chief Justice Roberts, who declared that “impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision.” The most famous instance of judicial impeachment was the 1804 trial of Justice Samuel Chase. That was an effort led by Thomas Jefferson’s Democratic-Republican Party to tame a judiciary that had been crafted by Alexander Hamilton’s and John Adams’s Federalist Party. The articles of impeachment against Chase failed. Some six decades later his distant relative Chief Justice Chase presided over the impeachment of President Johnson.

Judge Appointed by Obama, Tutored by Fani Willis, and Caught in Sex Scandal Faces Calls for Impeachment

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