MIKE DAVIS: Disgraced Georgia judge must leave the bench over sex scandal

U.S. Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon filed a motion Friday seeking the recusal of Atlanta U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross from a key election-integrity case after Ross admittedly – and illegally – attended a partisan Democrat fundraiser for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Obviously, Ross’ attendance makes clear she isn't impartial.

But this is just the beginning of Ross’s legal troubles. Indeed, news recently emerged that she defiled and dishonored her position by admittedly having years of extramarital sexual relations with Atlanta deputy police chief Kelley Collier in her chambers during work hours–trysts overheard by her staff. She lied about it when caught. She retaliated against her staff who reported it.

Eleanor Ross speaks during her 2014 confirmation hearing as her husband Judge Brian Ross, right, looks on. (C-SPAN)

Yet this egregious workplace sexual misconduct, lying and obstruction of justice resulted in her receiving a mere private reprimand -- a woefully lenient and inadequate disciplinary action — from the federal judiciary. Ross should either resign or face impeachment from Congress for her egregious misconduct. She should also face federal criminal prosecution for lying to federal investigators.

The Atlanta Police Department has many cases before Ross’s court. Collier, Ross’s regular courthouse booty call, is a nearly 30-year veteran who runs the Community Services Division and is married. It was only through "happenstance," according to the Eleventh Circuit Judicial Council, that Ross did not preside over any cases involving that division while their affair was ongoing. Avoiding a clear and predictable conflict of interest through luck alone doesn’t absolve Ross. Nothing suggests that, had Ross received such a case assignment, she would have terminated the affair. Ross is also married; her husband is DeKalb County Circuit Judge Brian Ross.

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The affair took place in close proximity to her law clerks, young lawyers for whom Ross was supposed to serve as a role model. Indeed, a former law clerk reported the affair to disciplinary authorities. Ross used her judicial chambers to conduct the sexual relationship. And this wasn’t a one time slip-up. This egregious sexual misconduct occurred over the course of several years, from 2023 until 2025. Ross cursed at staff when they lodged appropriate objections to her illegal behavior. Retaliatory behavior against a whistleblower who reported a judge’s wrongdoing has no place in our federal judiciary.  

Ross, appointed by former President Obama, also attended the political event for Willis, the legal embarrassment who secured a sweeping, lawless, politically-motivated indictment against President Trump and nearly 20 other defendants in 2023. The courts later disqualified Willis after news emerged that she had also maintained an inappropriate workplace sexual relationship with a special prosecutor on the case, Nathan Wade. Ross attended a party to celebrate Willis’s victory in a Democrat primary. Ethical canons forbid judges from attending such partisan political events.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis looks on during a hearing in the case of the State of Georgia v. Donald John Trump at the Fulton County Courthouse on March 1, 2024, in Atlanta, Georgia. (Alex Slitz-Pool/Getty Images)

Ross also demonstrated an utter lack of integrity throughout this process. When Eleventh Circuit U.S. Chief Judge William Pryor confronted her about the allegations, Ross vehemently maintained her innocence. She had the audacity to call the charges "outrageous." Ross knew she was making false statements to Pryor. There is no excuse for such outright deception from a sitting judge. Had a lawyer lied so blatantly to a judge in a proceeding, that lawyer justifiably would face disbarment and potential prosecution, including a possible contempt citation. Yet, for some reason, the Judicial Council treated Ross in a shockingly lenient manner. Its refusal to make the reprimand public, naming Ross, constitutes an unacceptable lack of transparency. The public deserves to know the identity of a judge who so flagrantly abused her office, lied about it, retaliated, and attempted a cover-up. She is a liar who got caught and has no place on the federal bench. This case demonstrates why Congress should enact Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley’s legislation establishing an independent inspector general for the federal judiciary. Federal judges prove repeatedly they are incapable of policing their own ethics.

Ross’s eventual confession does not mitigate her egregious behavior. The Judicial Council and Ross agreed that she would forgo serving as chief judge of the Northern District. Ross will apologize to former staff affected by her misconduct. But these sanctions are a pittance. Ross will, as things currently stand, continue to enjoy all the pay and benefits of a lifetime federal judicial appointment. Other judges facing misconduct charges have had the integrity to resign. Ross should do the same. In the meantime, the Justice Department should prosecute Ross and the House of Representatives should impeach her.

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Notably absent from this entire controversy is Georgia U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff. Ross sits on the federal bench in Ossoff’s home state, and her misconduct has embarrassed the Northern District of Georgia, the state of Georgia, and the federal judiciary as a whole. Ossoff has said nothing. He hasn’t called for her resignation. He hasn’t demanded transparency from the Judicial Council. He apparently hasn’t asked or been asked a single public question about why disciplinary authorities shielded Ross from public accountability. That silence is a choice, and Georgians must remember it.

Senator Jon Ossoff, a Democrat from Georgia, during a news conference following the weekly Senate Democrat policy luncheon at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 9, 2025. (Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg/Getty Images)

Ross is an utter discredit to the judiciary. She should leave with a modicum of dignity and be replaced by a judge who understands that chambers are not a room at Motel 6 for a sleazy affair where everyone within earshot has to listen. If Ross refuses to step down, the House should impeach her, and the Senate Judiciary Committee–where Ossoff should be leading the charge instead of hiding behind his silence–should demand answers on why her name was never made public. Most importantly, the Justice Department should commence a criminal investigation into the false statements Ross made to Pryor, along with her obstruction of justice. The judiciary and America deserve far better than Eleanor Ross.

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