DOJ Seeks Recusal of Georgia Judge Eleanor Ross in Election Records Case
The Justice Department has formally asked a Georgia federal judge to step away from a politically sensitive election case, CNBC reported Friday, pointing to media accounts suggesting the judge had previously been sanctioned for attending a partisan campaign event.
DOJ Files Motion Against Judge Ross
U.S. District Court Judge Eleanor Ross is presiding over a federal lawsuit against Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. The DOJ filed that suit after Raffensperger declined to hand over state election records the department requested as part of a federal compliance review.
In a motion filed in Atlanta, the DOJ argued that news organizations this week had identified Ross as the unnamed judge disciplined by the Eleventh Circuit’s Judicial Council. The council found that a “Subject Judge” had committed judicial misconduct by attending a partisan political event. The DOJ said it did not independently confirm Ross’s identity as that judge, and CNBC noted it could not confirm the reports either. Ross did not respond to requests for comment relayed through her clerks.
The Appearance of Bias Argument
The Justice Department’s central argument rests on optics rather than proven conduct. The event in question was a May 2024 victory celebration for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who led the criminal prosecution of President Donald Trump over alleged efforts to reverse his 2020 Georgia election loss. A photograph from that evening reportedly shows a figure resembling Ross in the background.
The DOJ argued in its court filing that a judge who attended a celebration for a prosecutor best known for charging a Republican president cannot then oversee a case tied to that same president’s election-related actions. The department used the phrase “appearance of bias” to frame its concern.
Background on the Disciplinary Action
The Eleventh Circuit’s sanction against the unidentified judge covered more than the party attendance. According to the disciplinary findings cited in the DOJ motion, the unnamed judge also engaged in an extramarital relationship inside their chambers with a senior law enforcement officer, within earshot of staff, and initially denied the conduct when questioned about it.
Sanctions imposed included written apologies to six former clerks, a bar from serving as chief judge, and exclusion from Judicial Conference committees. Ross has served on the federal bench since 2014 following a nomination by then-President Barack Obama. Before her appointment she worked as a senior assistant district attorney in Fulton County from 1998 to 2002, the same office Fani Willis later led.
Ross has not publicly addressed whether she is the judge referenced in the disciplinary proceedings.
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