Democratic Lawmakers Stay Mum on Georgia Judge’s Misconduct

Congressional Democrats are largely staying silent as Republicans seek the ouster of a Georgia federal judge who a judicial panel found had sex in chambers within earshot of clerks and lied to judges about it.

Two House Republicans have already introduced articles to impeach Judge Eleanor Ross of the Atlanta-based US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia while a pair of Senate Judiciary Committee members have publicly called for her removal.

Meanwhile, two weeks after a judicial conduct committee found she also had a two-year extramarital affair with a police commander with contact in her chambers and improperly attended a partisan political event, Democrats serving on the judiciary committee in both chambers are avoiding commenting on Ross.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said it was the first he had heard of the situation when asked on Wednesday–as did several other committee Democrats when asked this week.

“It’s not ringing a bell,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) Thursday. Whitehouse is next in line as the committee’s top Democrat, with Durbin set to retire at the end of this term.

Fellow committee member Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who helped lead the impeachments of two federal judges while in the House, said Thursday he didn’t “know any of the particulars.”

In the House, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee and lead House manager in the second impeachment of President Donald Trump, didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment.

Explaining Silence

Ross’s appointment by President Barack Obama may be part of the reason why Democrats are staying silent and Republicans have seized on her misconduct, said JP Collins, a professor at George Washington University Law School.

“If this had turned out to be a Trump appointee or a Bush appointee, I’m sure there would be no talk of it,” Collins said. “It wouldn’t make the conduct any more excusable.”

So far, the only Democrat approached by Bloomberg Law willing to talk at any length about Ross’s misconduct is Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), the ranking member on the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts. Johnson said, “the 11th Circuit looked at it — it’s one of the most conservative courts in the nation — and they looked at it and rendered a judgment on it, and I’m able to live with that result.”

But Aliza Shatzman, president of the Legal Accountability Project, said it’s “just outrageous” for Johnson as the top Democrat on the subcommittee to conclude that the disciplinary action taken by the judicial panel was sufficient.

Ross received a private reprimand, was required to write apology letters to clerks, and is barred from serving as her district’s chief judge.

Another dynamic is that Democrats may be reluctant to criticize the judiciary at a time when it’s stood up to President Donald Trump, Shatzman said.

Democrats “like that the judiciary rules against the Trump administration when they do things that are lawless,” Shatzman said. “But that unfortunately has created a situation where congressional Democrats don’t want to hold the judiciary accountable for anything.”

“We need to be able to separate these two questions: judges wrongly under fire for their rulings, and judges rightly under fire for committing misconduct,” Shatzman said.

Senate Republicans

Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) accused House Democrats of hypocrisy in remarks on the Senate floor on June 9.

“This federal judge is an example of actual misconduct — documented, investigated and confirmed by her own judicial colleagues,” Grassley said. “Where’s the outrage from House Democrats? I certainly haven’t heard any.”

Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who sits on Senate Judiciary and was the first senator to weigh in, said in a statement last week that Ross’ misconduct “represents a profound breach of public trust that undermines confidence in our federal judiciary.” Blackburn then called for Ross’ removal.

“If the allegations are proven true, then she should be impeached,” Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), another member of the Judiciary Committee, said in a social media post Wednesday.

Georgia Lawmakers

Two House Republicans from Georgia, Rep. Clay Fuller and Rep. Andrew Clyde, have introduced articles of impeachment against Ross. Neither lawmaker sits on the Judiciary Committee.

Georgia’s Democratic senators have largely been mum on Ross.

“I haven’t had a chance to dig in deep on that but I’ll just say ethics and character matter,“ Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) said last week. His office didn’t respond to a request for further comment.

The office of Georgia’s other Democratic senator, Sen. Jon Ossoff, who is up for reelection this fall, didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment.

—with assistance from Jacqueline Thomsen and Suzanne Monyak