Federal prosecutors are calling for a judge to step down from a Georgia voting case following her involvement in a judicial misconduct scandal.
The U.S. Department of Justice filed the recusal request on Friday, one week after a federal judicial panel confirmed a private reprimand against an unidentified judge for engaging in sexual conduct with a senior police official in her courtroom chambers while law clerks could hear.
While the judicial misconduct orders didn’t name the judge publicly, the Justice Department referenced media reports identifying the official as U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross in Atlanta, who is overseeing the voter registration case.
According to a February ruling from the 11th Circuit Judicial Council, the judge conducted an extramarital relationship and engaged in sexual activity with the officer. The judge also participated in a political campaign celebration for an unspecified district attorney.
Federal prosecutors identified that district attorney as Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, “who rose to nationwide fame for her failed prosecution of President Trump for alleged crimes related to the 2020 election.”
The department argued that if Ross, who was nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama, is indeed the judge referenced in the misconduct proceedings, she should recuse herself because her attendance at the Willis event creates an appearance of prejudice.
“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,” Justice Department lawyers wrote.
The judge’s court hasn’t responded to requests for comment. Ross, who was scheduled to hear arguments in the department’s lawsuit Wednesday, has previously declined through her court to discuss the misconduct case.
Willis, whose office hasn’t commented on the misconduct proceedings, filed charges in 2023 against now-President Donald Trump and 18 co-defendants for what she described as a comprehensive criminal plot to reverse Georgia’s 2020 election outcomes after Trump lost his reelection campaign to Democrat Joe Biden.
A court of appeals removed Willis, an elected Democrat in Atlanta, from the case in 2024. The court determined she had created an “appearance of impropriety” through a romantic involvement with the special prosecutor she had appointed to handle the case.
After her removal, the case was dropped in 2025 following Trump’s return to the White House by another prosecutor who assumed control.
