House Republican Preps Impeachment Bid Against Atlanta Judge

Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) is drafting articles of impeachment against a federal judge whom a judiciary panel found had sex with a police officer in chambers and improperly attended a political event, he said in a social media post.

Clyde on Thursday becomes the first lawmaker to announce steps toward impeaching Judge Eleanor Ross of the Atlanta-based US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, after Bloomberg Law reported she was the unnamed subject of a private reprimand and judicial conduct committee report.

“Her egregious misconduct, severe lack of integrity, and blatant impartiality warrant impeachment proceedings,” Clyde said on the social media platform X.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said Wednesday that his staff had put together a memo on the misconduct and declined to rule out impeachment.

“Everything’s on the table,” Jordan said. “We don’t take anything off the table.”

Jordan’s office didn’t immediately provide comment on Clyde’s announcement. Clyde doesn’t sit on the Judiciary Committee. The Northern District of Georgia court where Ross sits didn’t immediately return a request for comment.

Article III judges can only be removed through the impeachment process, which is rare. Fifteen federal judges have been impeached in US history, and the most recent proceeding was in 2010.

Clyde last year moved to impeach a Rhode Island federal judge who ruled against the Trump administration in a dispute over federal funds. House Republicans have introduced articles of impeachment against other judges who ruled against Trump administration priorities as well. None of those efforts have gone anywhere.

Senate Pressure

Pressure on Ross rose on the other side of the Capitol on Thursday with Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) becoming the first US senator to call for the judge’s removal.

“The American people deserve federal judges who uphold the highest standards of integrity and professionalism on the bench, not those who turn their chambers into a venue for extramarital affairs,” the Senate Judiciary Committee member said in a statement.

“Judge Ross’ reported misconduct represents a profound breach of public trust that undermines confidence in our federal judiciary, and she should be removed from office,” Blackburn said.

Ross, who was nominated by Barack Obama and joined the court in 2014, has faced calls to resign from legal experts, though few lawmakers have weighed in thus far.

Mike Davis, an informal legal adviser to President Donald Trump, described Ross’ conduct in an op-ed as “egregious” and called for her to resign or face impeachment. Watchdog group Fix The Court has also called on the House Judiciary Committee to open an impeachment inquiry.

The Justice Department last week asked Ross to recuse from a case involving the government’s request for Georgia voter information. It argued her attendance at a primary election watch party for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis created an appearance of bias in an election-related case.

The offices of Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and other Republican members of the panel didn’t respond to requests for comment on the misconduct findings and potential congressional action. Representatives for Georgia Democrats Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff also didn’t respond to requests for comment.