Commentary in the Tennessee Star
Since moving to the Nashville area last year, I have become a regular guest on the Michael Patrick Leahy show. Some segments are later summarized and written up as commentary in the Tennessee Star by a Star reporter. I generally post on Misrule of Law only material that I write, but paraphrasing is the next best thing. On yesterday’s show, I discussed the appalling scandal of an Obama-appointed federal district judge, Eleanor Ross, who frequently used her chambers to conduct extra-marital trysts, loudly enough to embarrass and disgust her law clerks, working within earshot. “Judge” Ross is a skank who should be impeached if she doesn’t resign. She is a disgrace to the federal bench, unfit to serve in a position requiring integrity–which she manifestly lacks.
Here is the gist of what I said on the show:
What started out as a “private reprimand” by the 11th Circuit to an unnamed federal district judge quickly unraveled into a major scandal reported by even the New York Times. The NYT headline was “Sex, Lies and Secrets: A Federal Judge’s Trysts Go Public.” What a lurid and sordid expose! The 22-page “private reprimand,” while not naming the judge being scolded, was published, and the details in the reprimand allowed bloggers (including Josh Blackman) to perform enough detective work to conclude that the culprit was Judge Eleanor Ross, appointed to the bench in 2014 by President Barack Obama. She is now the subject of an impeachment charge.
I have never seen or heard anything like this. The NYT reported that
For years, Judge Eleanor Ross’s secret was passed down from law clerk to law clerk.
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?
One day last year, a clerk did exactly that.
News reports indicate that Ross “made history as the first Black woman to serve as a judge on the Northern District of Georgia, declaring that “the most important attribute of a judge is integrity.” Integrity! A former colleague, Judge Timothy C. Batten, correctly observed that her conduct “reflects poorly on the court.” Understatement of the year!
Judge Ross will be remembered as the married judge who engaged in a longstanding extramarital affair with a married law enforcement officer, frequently and noisily consummated in her chambers, to the chagrin and embarrassment of her law clerks, who were forced to listen through paper-thin walls as their boss fornicated loudly on government property during the work day. This went on for two years. The judge’s sofa cushions were stained in the same manner as Monica Lewinsky’s dress. Finally, one of her clerks filed a complaint.
The “private reprimand” required Ross to write letters apologizing to her law clerks, which were so weak that the 11th Circuit ordered her to issue more detailed, contrite apologies.
That is not all. According to the NYT, “Former staffers spoke with The Times, accusing the judge of showing an utter disregard for the civil disputes before her. The recent law school graduates clerking for Judge Ross said that she largely let them decide how to rule on key motions in lawsuits, and claimed they wouldn’t hear from her for weeks at a time. When they finally did, they said she would reply within minutes after receiving a draft order with a two-word email: ‘Please docket.’”
She also repeatedly lied to Judicial Council investigators, initially denying the trysts. She also attended partisan political events, contrary to the judicial code of ethics.
Here is Josh Blackman’s summary:
[Judge Ross] brazenly and repeatedly had sex in her offices within moaning distance of her law clerks. None of her colleagues knew. When confronted, she lied about it repeatedly. She tried to obstruct the investigation by blaming her law clerk, who had the courage to blow the whistle. But after Judge Ross was caught–and she certainly knew she would be caught–she was given a second chance to correct the record. With this chance to unstain her reputation, Judge Ross finally came clean (unlike her couch).
The Eleventh Circuit was persuaded by her genuineness, looking past the fact that she had brazenly lied to them before. (If any law student is found to have made a material lie once, they are expelled and have no chance of ever sitting for the bar.) Rather than giving Judge Ross a public reprimand she so justly deserved, she was given a third chance and offered a private reprimand. After all, she expressed remorse and wanted to be rehabilitated. We all know that liars and adulterers mend their ways and never do it again, right?
The punishment was not a punishment at all. She gave up administrative responsibilities that, frankly, most judges don’t really want. And she offered to write “vague” apology letters. The Judicial Council did not condition the private reprimand on the contents of the letter. Once again, the Judicial Council trusted an inveterate liar who had sex on the public fisc. This was her fourth chance, which she would waste.
Even after her story blew up and made international headlines, Judge Ross still had no remorse. Did Judge Ross take this chance to offer a sincere and genuine apology to her clerks. No, not even close. She wrote an offensive letter with offered zero contrition. The courageous law clerks once again spoke up charging that Judge Ross did not fulfill her sweetheart deal.
Did the Chief Judge of the Eleventh Circuit finally decide that Judge Ross abused the terms of the private reprimand, and throw the book at her? No, Judge Ross got yet a fifth chance to offer a new apology letter. Finally, Judge Ross (or ChatGPT) put together a letter that acknowledged her conduct. She escaped consequences once again.
The judicial misconduct process is not being enforced in a consistent manner. Some judges who did nothing wrong have been put through purgatory. Other judges who engaged in actual misconduct receive an endless supply of second chances.
Judge Ross lacked any remorse, and the Chief Judge of the Eleventh Circuit gave her one too many chances to correct the record
Let me put this in perspective that all judges can understand.
When a suspect makes a false statement to the FBI and obstructs the investigation, they do not get a chance to correct the record, they get indicted.
When a defendant makes an insincere apology during sentencing, they do not get leniency, they are called unremorseful and suffer the consequences.
When a defendant violates the terms of supervised release, they do not get five do-overs, they get remanded to custody.
Judges have had their careers ruined because of vindictive Chief Judges with agendas. By contrast, Judge Ross had kid glove treatment.
This is an Obama judge. A life-tenured jurist who wears black robes (at least when not cavorting in her chambers), works in a majestic federal courthouse, and is addressed “Your Honor.” Federal judges hold themselves out as oracles, mandarins, seers, and prophets. In reality, Obama-appointed judges are often sleazy, amoral grifters and hacks.
Now she is disgraced, her reputation is in tatters, and she will likely be impeached if she doesn’t resign from the bench. Her cuckolded husband would be justified in divorcing her.
And the Democrats dare criticize the conservative Supreme Court justices? Judge Ross is a skank, liar, cheater, and derelict judicial officer. She needs to return to civilian life. Maybe she can start an Only Fans page.
