NYT Talked to the Clerks of Federal Judge Who Was Having Sex in The Chambers
The internet continues to be utterly obsessed with the drama surrounding Judge Eleanor Ross’s courthouse trysts—the extramarital affair with a high-ranking uniformed police officer, the loud jazz music trying to drown out the noisy sex and the mortified law clerks who heard it all. But now, a bombshell investigation by the New York Times has uncovered the explosive details behind the scandal, exposing a completely neglected docket—verified by the very people who worked alongside her.
Judge Ross’s reckless affair, we previously told you about, was just the tip of a devastating iceberg of unchecked judicial misconduct and an unforgivable betrayal of her oath.
Former staffers spoke with The Times, accusing the judge of showing an utter disregard for the civil disputes before her. The recent law school graduates clerking for Judge Ross said that she largely let them decide how to rule on key motions in lawsuits, and claimed they wouldn’t hear from her for weeks at a time. When they finally did, they said she would reply within minutes after receiving a dock order with a two-word email: “Please docket.”
The clerks estimated that she provided edits on roughly five percent of the civil orders they drafted in her name—and even then, her feedback was mostly limited to typos and grammar.
Related: Georgia Judge In Trouble for Having Sex in the Workplace Near Her Clerks
Her reported conduct was so egregious that one disgruntled clerk told The Times their faith in the legal system was dwindling, forcing them to reconsider whether to continue working in the law entirely.
For her misconduct, Judge Ross was issued a private reprimand, prohibited from serving as chief judge and was required to apologize to law clerks. However, some members of Congress say that is not enough.
Congress is drawing up formal articles of impeachment to strip her of her robes because Ross’ “deeply disturbing actions prove she is incapable of displaying integrity or impartiality.”
Federal prosecutors are moving to kick her off an election integrity case, citing a massive conflict of interest after she had improperly attended a campaign event for Fani Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, according to The Times.
Her fellow federal judges are calling out the blatant hypocrisy of her routinely sentencing offenders while her own jaw-dropping misconduct was swept under the rug with zero real fallout.
Making a complete mockery of the situation was her “offensively vague,” copy-and-pasted three-sentence apology to the law clerks. “Thank you for your contributions to our court during your clerkship. I convey my deepest apology for not taking steps to ensure that it was a more positive experience. I wish you all the best in your future legal endeavors and in life,” Judge Ross wrote in May, according to The Times.
The apology, per the judicial committee, was to “make clear to the recipient the sexual misconduct for which the judge is apologizing.” One former clerk shared her apology with the chief judge of the 11th Circuit, believing it failed to do so.
Judge Timothy C. Batten, a former colleague of Ross, said her conduct “reflects poorly on the court.” Don Samuel, a criminal defense lawyer in Atlanta who had long respected Judge Ross, said he doesn’t “know where you go from here.”
Judge Ross has been married to Brian K. Ross, a judge on the State Court of DeKalb County, since March 2001, according to her Facebook page. She made history as the first Black woman to serve as a judge on the Northern District of Georgia, declaring that “the most important attribute of a judge is integrity.”
