DOJ seeks Judge Eleanor Ross recusal in Georgia election case

Ministry of Justice On Friday, he asked Georgia federal judge Eleanor Ross to recuse herself from an ongoing lawsuit over election records, citing media reports that identified Ross as the same judge disciplined for attending a victory party for a district attorney’s campaign.

The Justice Department said Ross would “create the appearance of bias” if she became a judge because the victory party would be in May 2024 for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is prosecuting President Donald Trump for an alleged conspiracy to overturn the results of his 2020 loss in Georgia to former President Joe Biden.

“A judge who attends a party celebrating the election of a Democrat known for prosecuting a Republican President for alleged election interference cannot preside over a case involving the President’s efforts to ensure election integrity in this case,” the Justice Department said in a motion to dismiss Ross in 2013. he said. US District Court in Atlanta.

The Justice Department does not claim in the filing that it independently identified Ross, 58, as the judge disciplined, and CNBC did not confirm that he was the judge.

This week, CNBC asked two of Ross’s clerks to ask a reporter to confirm whether he was the judge disciplined by the Judicial Council. Ross did not respond to these questions.

” Judicial Council of the Eleventh Circuit “It was determined that the judge in question abused his judicial duty by participating in a partisan and political event,” the application said.

The Eleventh Judicial Circuit consists of federal courts in Georgia, Florida, and Alabama. Ross had served as a federal judge since 2014, when he was nominated by then-President Barack Obama.

The Justice Department is suing Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger over his refusal to turn over election records to the Justice Department as part of an investigation to determine the state’s compliance with federal election law.

In the same disciplinary investigation launched by the judicial council against the unidentified judge, it was revealed that the unidentified judge had engaged in extramarital sex in chambers with a high-ranking police officer within earshot of his staff, and when confronted with these allegations, he initially falsely denied them.

The 11th Circuit sanctioned the unidentified judge who accepted them. Sanctions included ordering six former law clerks interviewed in the investigation to write letters of apology; continued service as chief judge of the federal district in which they are located; and refrain from serving on any Judicial Conference committee.

Ross is a former prosecutor with the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office, where he served as the senior assistant district attorney from 1998 to 2002.

A photo taken from Willis’ ex-boyfriend Nathan Wade’s primary victory party in May 2024 shows Ross standing in the background and holding what appears to be a martini glass.

In its motion to dismiss, the Department of Justice noted that this week “various news sources identified Judge Ross as the Subject Matter Judge who was disciplined.”

The petition cited disciplinary findings in the unidentified judge’s case.

“Three former clerks recalled the Judge saying:
“He consumed a martini at a victory party held for the District Attorney,” according to the excerpt in the Justice Department’s file.

The quote continued: “Immediately after presiding over a criminal hearing, you told an intern that you had drunk too many martinis the night before in what could have been a political event for a District Attorney.”

The Justice Department “has not found any reported decisions involving a sitting federal judge attending an election party celebrating the victory of a candidate for partisan office,” the filing said.

“In any event, Judge Ross should recuse himself from any case that an objective and reasonable observer would interpret as engaging in partisan or electoral politics, including this case,” the filing said.