Justice Requests Judge, Subject of Emerging Sex Scandal, Be Removed From 2020 Election Case for Friendship With Fani Willis

The federal judge under investigation for allegedly having sex in her chambers with an officer might be kicked off her 2020 election case — over her friendship with the district attorney of Fulton County, Fani Willis. The Trump administration is asking that the judge, Eleanor Ross, be kicked off the case.The request underscores the widening fallout from the failed criminal case against President Trump in the Peach State. Judge Ross of the Northern District of Georgia attended a fundraising gala honoring Ms. Willis, who was disqualified from the initial case. Ms. Willis is now challenging the January irruption on Fulton County’s election offices by the Justice Department as part of its efforts to collect data on 2020 election officials.The government is seeking, among other information, the home and email addresses and personal phone numbers of everyone who helped run the 2020 general election in Fulton County. The county is suing for the return of the records. The DOJ alleges that Judge Ross’s association with Ms. Willis, who was appointed to the bench by President Obama and previously served alongside Ms. Willis as a prosecutor in Fulton County’s district attorney’s office, creates an “appearance of bias.” Judge Ross also appears to be at the center of a probe by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals into a judge in the Northern District of Georgia jurisdiction who was found to have had sex in the courthouse with a “high-ranking law enforcement officer.” An investigation by the court found that a judge performed “sexual intercourse in the judge’s chambers during business hours within hearing distance of staff.” According to an Associated Press report last week, the so-called “Subject Judge” in the probe initially denied the allegations, but subsequently recanted. The AP reports that the “committee’s review of logs and security footage showed an officer had frequently visited the judge’s chambers in uniform around lunchtime.” The committee also found that the judge “rarely, if ever, substantively edited civil orders the clerks drafted.” The Justice Department, citing “media sources,” asserts it is Judge Ross. While the AP did not name the judge, it reported that a federal judge in the district received a “private reprimand.” As part of the punishment the judge agreed not to accept the position of chief judge of the district when eligible and to refrain from serving on any judicial conference committee. The judicial district has issued a statement saying only that Judge Ross has “no comment right now.” Federal judges are appointed for life but can be subject to disciplinary action by their judicial superiors. The Constitution ordains, though, that removal from the federal bench can only be achieved through impeachment by Congress. The Justice Department filing contends that “a judge who attended a party celebrating the election of a Democrat best known for prosecuting a Republican President for alleged election interference cannot then preside over a case concerning that President’s efforts to ensure election integrity.” Last month two acolytes of Ms. Willis won elections for state judgeships, suggesting that the prosecutor retains deep support in Fulton County even after she was disqualified.The litigation turns on whether the federales can lay claim to state voter information. The Peach State’s secretary of state, Bradley Raffensperger, insists that Georgia law protects confidential voter data unless specific legal conditions are met. Last month, Mr. Raffensperger finished last in a field of three candidates contending for the Republican nomination for Georgia governor. A phone call between Messrs. Raffensperger and Trump in the wake of the 2020 election where the then-45th president told the official, “What I want to do is this. I just want to find, uh, 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state” was at the core of the criminal cases brought by both Ms. Willis and Special Counsel Jack Smith.Mr. Raffensperger has provided the Justice Department with public information tied to the 2020 vote but has resisted doing the same for material he — and Fulton County— deem “private.” 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. The ballots were counted three times, once by hand. Each count confirmed President Biden’s victory. 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 DOJ has provided Fulton County with copies of the ballots that are now held by the federal government.

Justice Requests Judge, Subject of Emerging Sex Scandal, Be Removed From 2020 Election Case for Friendship With Fani Willis

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