On June 7, in Should a lying federal judge be impeached?, I told the tale of Eleanor Ross, a judge, who for years engaged in loud, B-movie comic sex with a prominent local police officer in her chambers. Ross was eventually exposed, and a judicial panel imposed no more than a slap on the wrist, and tried to keep even that quiet. Apparently, Ross was such an outstanding jurist, it was essential to keep her on the bench, despite her lies to that panel.

Advertisement

Now we discover, through the good graces of The Volokh Conspiracy, that’s not quite true:

For years, Judge Eleanor Ross's secret was passed down from law clerk to law clerk.

Advertisement

They whispered about the sultry jazz music that emanated from her chambers when a uniformed police commander, a man they called her "visitor," disappeared into her private office. The clerks could sometimes hear the unmistakable sounds of sex from behind the door.

They chalked it up as one of the burdens of working for Judge Ross, who routinely rubber stamped their draft orders and added little else before issuing them as rulings. But the clerks in the Atlanta courthouse felt helpless: Do you report your married boss, a federal judge no less, for having a clandestine in-office affair with a law enforcement officer?

Advertisement

One day last year, a clerk did exactly that.

Serving as a law clerk is a defining opportunity in the professional and personal life of any young lawyer. Federal judges are people of enormous influence, and supposed integrity, knowledge, and ability. They are supposed to mentor and guide their clerks and serve as models of temperament and honor. Putting aside Ross’ lies about her dalliances and the dalliances, it appears Ross, who was obviously thinking with her genitals, was also slovenly about her judicial duties:

Advertisement

“…the clerks were even more troubled about her utter disregard for the civil docket. They insist barely 5% of the civil orders were reviewed, and only then for typos and grammar.

One clerk said it felt like their belief in the legal system had been yanked out from underneath their feet, and that they wondered whether to continue working in law.

Advertisement

While the clerks said they might have been willing to overlook isolated personal foibles, they were more broadly disturbed by the lack of attention Judge Ross paid to the civil disputes that came before her.”

While Ross apparently paid attention to criminal cases, she sluffed most civil decisions and writing onto her clerks, who could go weeks without hearing from her, except through brief emails.

Advertisement

“They estimated that she provided edits on roughly 5 percent of the civil orders that they drafted in her name, and even then mostly just for grammar or typos.

Judge Ross later disputed the clerks' account to the judicial committee, saying that she made edits to 30 to 40 percent of drafts.

The Eleventh Circuit could have compared her draft orders and published orders, but decided not to investigate this ground.”

Ordered to write sincere and specific apologies to her clerks, Ross wrote minimal, non-apology, generic pseudo-apologies, or an AI wrote them:

Graphic: Volokh Conspiracy, Public Domain.

The three former clerks who spoke to The Times said that they viewed the letter as offensively vague. One decided to share it with the chief judge of the 11th Circuit, believing it didn't comply with the committee's order.

There are a few honest judges in Atlanta:

Judge Timothy C. Batten, Judge Ross's former colleague in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, worried that her misconduct would affect how courts and judges were viewed by the public.

"I'm really sorry this happened and reflects poorly on the court," he said in an interview. Judge Batten retired last year as chief judge of the district court and said he had never gotten wind of Judge Ross's misconduct.

And:

Jeremy Fogel, a retired federal judge who consults with judges on ethics questions, said some in the judiciary disagreed with how Judge Ross's case had been resolved. "Many of the sitting judges with whom I've spoken believe the findings as a whole warranted a more significant sanction," he said.

Indeed, and impeachment, though rare for federal judges as I noted in the earlier AT article, remains possible.

There are many indications that the justice system in Atlanta—consider Fulton County Prosecutor Fani Willis—suffers from systemic corruption, and black entitlement, and black rule—Ross and Willis are black—plays a part. 

Those judges and others who argue that Ross’ hand slap punishment was not enough to dispel legitimate worries about systemic racial and judicial corruption ought to be heeded. One or two people can rapidly destroy what decades of careful, ethical labor have created, and once destroyed, it may never be rebuilt.

Become a subscriber and get our weekly Friday newsletter with unique content from our editors. These essays alone are worth the cost of the subscription. 

Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, lifelong athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer, and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.