Federal Judge Eleanor Ross Issues Second Apology After Initial Letters Deemed Inadequate

Judge Eleanor Ross, a federal judge based in Atlanta, faced a disciplinary process within the Eleventh Circuit after it was found she had engaged in sexual conduct in her judicial chambers, in proximity to her law clerks, and had made repeated false statements to investigators. A law clerk who reported the conduct faced an attempt by Ross to shift blame onto them during the investigation. The Eleventh Circuit's Judicial Council ultimately issued a private reprimand rather than a public one, after Ross expressed remorse and agreed to relinquish certain administrative responsibilities and write apology letters to affected clerks. The initial apology letters were deemed insufficient by the clerks, prompting additional opportunities to revise them, before Ross produced a letter acknowledging her conduct. Critics, particularly from legal commentators on the right, have argued the process afforded Ross far more leniency than ordinary litigants or defendants would receive under comparable circumstances, and have called for congressional review of chief judges' discretion in misconduct proceedings. Calls for impeachment have also been raised.