They want her out. Two Georgia Republicans, Reps. Clay Fuller and Andrew Clyde, just filed impeachment resolutions against Atlanta federal judge Eleanor Ross. The charges read like a cheap noir novel. Sex in chambers with a cop. Partisan partying. Lying to investigators. Clyde did not mince words on social media, declaring Ross unfit for the bench and demanding her immediate removal.
It is a lifetime gig. Federal judges do not just pack up and leave. Only impeachment can oust them, a process that must crawl through the House Judiciary Committee first. When asked for a comment, Ross’s chambers offered nothing but silence.
Barack Obama put her there. Nominated in early 2014 and confirmed by the Senate later that year, Ross came with a solid resume. She was a DeKalb County judge and a long-time prosecutor. Then the wheels fell off.
A clerk blew the whistle. The tipster claimed Ross was regularly hooking up with a high-ranking, uniformed police officer right inside her office. Staff could hear it. The complaint also painted a picture of a chaotic workplace where Ross allegedly screamed at employees and ignored her duties.
She denied it all. When 11th Circuit Chief Judge William Pryor first asked about the rumors, Ross claimed the clerk was just bitter about office return policies. She lied. A special committee dug deeper, and the truth came out. Ross eventually got a private slap on the wrist—a “private reprimand”—after investigators proved the sexual escapades and the partisan outing.
The official judicial report kept her name secret. But secrets do not last in this town. An anonymous source confirmed to the Associated Press that Ross was indeed the disgraced jurist. Meanwhile, the Atlanta Police Department is scrambling to figure out if the mystery officer is one of their own.
The evidence was damning. Security logs and cameras showed a uniformed officer slipping into her chambers around lunchtime. Clerks heard the noises. Other staffers recalled a day when Ross ditched summer interns because she was nursing a hangover. Too many martinis, she allegedly admitted, at a primary victory party for a district attorney friend.
Clerks described an “eggshell culture” where Ross barely looked at the civil orders they drafted. She eventually confessed to the extramarital affair with the cop. However, she denied abusing her staff. She also claimed the political event was just a harmless “mixer” for former colleagues, not a victory bash. The House will now decide if that excuse holds water.
