See more of our coverage in your search results.
The Department of Justice has requested that an Atlanta judge reprimanded for having noisy sex in her chambers with a top cop recuse herself from a critical legal fight over access to Georgia’s election records.
Federal prosecutors submitted a Motion to Disqualify and a supporting memorandum regarding Judge Eleanor Ross, 58, in the US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia on Friday.
In the filing, DOJ attorneys said Ross — who last week was reprimanded over her alleged hookups with Atlanta Police Department deputy chief Kelley Collier at the courthouse — should step aside from the department’s fight with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger over access to state voting records.
The government motion stems from an amended final report adopted by the Judicial Council of the 11th Circuit on Dec. 10, 2025.
The judge also attended an event hosted by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ campaign, the investigation report said.
The judge appointed under President Barack Obama acknowledged attending the private mixer with former colleagues in the state district attorney’s office, as part of a larger partisan event sponsored by the campaign.
The DOJ argued that Ross’ attendance at the event raised questions about her ability to remain impartial.
“The Subject Judge’s attendance at the political event — where someone photographed the judge — had the potential to erode public confidence in the independent and non-partisan nature of the judiciary,” reads the memorandum, which was seen by The Post.
“A judge who attended a party celebrating the election of a Democrat best known for prosecuting a Republican President for alleged election interference cannot then preside over a case concerning that President’s efforts to ensure election integrity,” DOJ lawyers wrote in the filing.
Before she was a judge, Ross worked in the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office, overlapping with future DA Willis.
Ross scheduled a hearing in the case against Raffensberger for Wednesday, but because of the recusal request, the DOJ has asked for the hearing to be delayed.
Willis indicted Trump on racketeering charges in 2023, but the case was dropped in 2025 when it was discovered she had a romantic relationship with the man she chose to lead the case.
Ross scheduled a hearing in the case against Raffensberger for Wednesday, but because of the recusal request, the DOJ has asked for the hearing to be delayed.
In January 2026, the FBI raided Fulton County, seizing ballots and other election materials as a result of claims by Trump of ballot rigging in the 2020 presidential election.
Ross ordered Georgia to extend its deadline for accepting mail-in ballots in September 2020 ahead of the election.
Last week, Ross, who is married to Georgia state court Judge Brian Ross, was handed a “private reprimand” for having sex with Collier, 55, in her chambers.
The federal jurist “a gross lack of judgment” through her two-year affair between 2023 and 2025, during which she allegedly had sex in “chambers and during business hours,” according to a report.
Her affair created a “chambers workplace that was extremely uncomfortable and troubling for clerks,” the report states.
Ross did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
With Post wires