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U.S.|Sex, Lies and Secrets: A Federal Judge’s Trysts Go Public
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/11/us/eleanor-ross-judge-sex-misconduct.html
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Now, Judge Eleanor Ross’s career and caseload are under scrutiny. And her punishment, a private reprimand, has sparked backlash.
June 11, 2026, 5:00 a.m. ET
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.
The complaint triggered a monthslong judicial investigation that involved courthouse interviews and the seizure of a beige office couch cushion that was tested in a lab for bodily fluid.
The ensuing investigative report is a chronicle of sex, lies and ethical breaches, much of which is cloaked in secrecy because America’s federal court system affords judges broad deference. The report, which became public last month, did not include Judge Ross’s name, gender or location. Details of the anonymous judge’s case soon rocketed through the clubby, decorous world of the judiciary.
The New York Times confirmed it was Judge Ross through interviews with three of her former clerks and two people familiar with the matter, and obtained a signed apology letter that she wrote as part of a judicial reprimand.
Now, Judge Ross is under fire from all three branches of the federal government. Some Republican members of Congress are calling for her impeachment. The Justice Department is urging her to recuse herself from a high-profile election integrity case. Some of her fellow judges say the punishment she received has been too lenient. And the Atlanta Police Department says it is investigating the accusations involving one of its top-ranking officers.
