Pulliam: Obama-Appointed Judge Ross Faces One of the Worst Judicial Scandals in Memory

Kaitlin Housler
Eleanor Ross

Legal commentator and retired attorney Mark Pulliam said the misconduct allegations surrounding U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross represent “one of the worst” scandals he’s seen involving a federal judge and predicted that the Georgia jurist will ultimately resign rather than face a congressional impeachment battle.

Ross (pictured above), a federal judge in the Northern District of Georgia appointed by former President Barack Obama in 2014, was the subject of a lengthy investigation by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals after complaints from former law clerks.

According to findings released by the judicial council, Ross engaged in a years-long relationship with a high-ranking Atlanta police officer, including sexual encounters that reportedly occurred in her chambers during work hours.

Court investigators reportedly reviewed security records showing frequent visits by the officer and interviewed multiple law clerks who described hearing what they believed to be sexual activity from behind the judge’s office door.

The investigation also found that Ross initially denied the allegations when questioned by judicial officials, but later admitted the relationship after investigators gathered corroborating evidence. Ross was ultimately issued a private reprimand, agreed not to seek the position of chief judge in the district, and was required to write letters of apology to former law clerks.

Republican members of the U.S. House have since introduced articles of impeachment accusing Ross of improper sexual conduct in her chambers, attending a partisan political event connected to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, and obstructing an official proceeding through false statements made during the investigation.

Discussing the scandal on Monday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, Pulliam said the matter continues to attract attention because of both the seriousness of the allegations and the limited punishment imposed by the federal judiciary.

He noted the judicial council’s disciplinary order initially concealed Ross’s identity, omitting her name and other identifying information.

“You would think that they would come down on this judge, an Obama appointee, like a ton of bricks, but they didn’t,” Pulliam said. “Even after Judge Ross lied to investigators from the 11th Circuit’s Judicial Council about whether this had happened and what happened and so forth, they ended up giving her a private reprimand.”

He credited legal scholar Josh Blackman with identifying Ross through details contained in the disciplinary order.

“It was on Volokh Conspiracy that he pieced together from the details in this 22-page private reprimand … there was only one person that fit,” Pulliam said. “This is like the game Clue.”

Pulliam also pointed to allegations from former clerks that Ross delegated substantial responsibility for civil cases to law clerks.

“What her clerks, when they were interviewed by the 11th Circuit investigator, said is that she never even reads the orders and decisions that we write in civil cases,” Pulliam said.

He described the scandal as one of the most serious cases of judicial misconduct he could recall, arguing that conduct of this nature would ordinarily result in termination in most workplaces.

“Any workplace in America other than an Article III judge would be fired on the spot for this,” he said.

As House Republicans seek to advance impeachment proceedings, Pulliam predicted Ross will ultimately leave the bench before Congress can act, saying he believes resignation is the most likely outcome.

“I think they’ll go forward, just because this case has so much notoriety,” Pulliam said. “It has sex appeal. It’s not a matter of did she get something wrong? Did she overreach? This is just the worst kind of misconduct.”

“I think she will resign before these things reach fruition,” he added. “Because I think it’s just gonna get worse for her.”

Calling the allegations “scandalous in the worst way,” Pulliam concluded, “I don’t think she can withstand it.”

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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.

 

 

 

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