Eleanor Ross appears before the US Senate judiciary Committee in Washington DC, for a hearing on her judicial nomination on 13 May 2014. Photograph: US Senate/ReutersView image in fullscreenEleanor Ross appears before the US Senate judiciary Committee in Washington DC, for a hearing on her judicial nomination on 13 May 2014. Photograph: US Senate/ReutersUS judge recuses herself in Georgia election case after having sex with officer in chambersEleanor Ross cited an ‘abundance of caution for potential perception of bias’ over a Fani Willis-linked event
A federal judge who was disciplined after an investigation found that she had sex with a police officer in her chambers and attended a partisan event – then lied when confronted with the allegations – has recused herself in a fight over Georgia election records after the US justice department raised questions about her ability to be impartial.
The justice department sought to remove Eleanor Ross, a US district judge, from the case, citing her reported attendance at an event for Fani Willis, the Fulton county district attorney who prosecuted Donald Trump in between his two presidencies. Ross on Tuesday filed an order recusing herself, writing that she was doing so “out of an abundance of caution for the potential perception of bias”.
The justice department had sued Georgia secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, seeking an unredacted statewide voter list, and Ross was presiding over that case.
“Both the Trump administration’s present and Willis’s past efforts have become heavily polarized,” Ross wrote, explaining that she “cannot discount” that an objective observer might interpret her attendance at an event sponsored by Willis’ campaign as support for the district attorney’s position, even if she only went to see former colleagues.
Ross received a “private reprimand” after a court investigation found that she had sex in the courthouse with a high-ranking uniformed police officer within earshot of staff, attended a partisan event and then initially lied to deny the allegations.
The investigation report says Ross went to an event hosted by a district attorney’s campaign. The judge said the district attorney had been a friend since 1999 and acknowledged having gone to the private mixer held on the sidelines of the event to visit with former colleagues in the district attorney’s office.
Ross previously worked in the Fulton county district attorney’s office. She overlapped there with Willis before Willis was district attorney.
Willis in August 2023 obtained an indictment against Trump and 18 others, accusing them of participating in a wide-ranging scheme to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results. That case was ultimately dismissed in November.
