...but the reprimand is private! (UPDATED with the potential identity of the judge below).
By David Oscar Markus*
The Eleventh Circuit issued a private reprimand to a sitting United States District Judge after a Special Committee investigation confirmed that the judge had engaged in a multi-year extramarital affair with a uniformed local police officer, including sexual intercourse in the judge's chambers during business hours, within earshot of law clerks.
The order is here. It is worth reading in full.
The affair ran roughly from late 2022 through October 2025. The officer, a high-ranking commander at a local police department since 1998, made frequent lunchtime visits to the judge's chambers in uniform, signing in on law enforcement logs. At least three former law clerks heard sounds consistent with sexual activity coming from the judge's closed office. One clerk had to leave the building. Another described the chambers as having an "eggshell culture." The Special Committee confirmed the visits through courthouse security footage and sign-in logs, interviewed six former clerks, and even removed a sofa cushion from the judge's office and transported it to an out-of-state laboratory for acid phosphate testing. (The test came back negative.)
When Chief Judge Pryor first wrote to the judge in September 2025, the judge denied everything. Called the allegations "outrageous" and "baseless." Blamed the reporting clerk for retaliating over a phone-use reprimand. Then, eleven days later, the judge hired a lawyer and admitted the affair and sex in chambers. By the time the judge came clean, the committee had already reviewed footage, interviewed five clerks, inspected the chambers layout, and driven a sofa cushion to a laboratory. The false statements were themselves a separate misconduct finding.
The judge also attended a District Attorney's campaign victory party, then reportedly joked to summer interns the next morning about having "too many martinis" the night before a criminal hearing. That was finding number two.
The court issued a private reprimand. Plus: written apologies to all six clerks. No eligibility to serve as chief judge. No Judicial Conference committee service, indefinitely. The judge keeps the seat and continues to hear cases.
The Special Committee considered a public reprimand. Mitigating factors: eventual candor, termination of the affair, and what the committee called "otherwise exemplary service to the court." That was enough to keep it private.
The order uses gender-neutral language throughout. Not a single pronoun for the judge, the clerks, or the officer. The identity is not public.
What the order does tell us: this is a sitting district judge, not a chief judge (the chief of the judge's district blew the whistle). The judge is a former prosecutor, friends with a sitting DA since 1999. Handles all criminal cases personally without law clerk assistance. Uses staggered two-year clerk terms.
The DA victory party is probably the most identifiable data point. The Special Committee found news coverage, including video and photos, of a campaign event with martini glasses. That is a specific, locatable event in a specific 11th Circuit city. Someone with local knowledge could likely find it.
As of today, no outlet has publicly named the judge.
*I never used to put the byline on my posts but decided to do so because I want it to be clear it's me writing as I don't want John or Jordi getting any heat for what I write.
UPDATE -- Marco Polo says the judge is Eleanor Ross out of Atlanta (NDGA).
22 comments:
Based on a few details in the report and using AI to sift through biographical data for district judges in the 11th Circuit, it appears very likely that the judge in question is District Judge Eleanor Louise Ross (nee Barnwell) of the Northern District of Georgia.
She's the only female district judge in the 11th Circuit who has formerly worked in a district attorney's office in the Circuit. The DA victory event in question appears to be an event for Fani Willis, another officer of the court who appears to have trouble with inappropriate romantic relationships.
David -- I do not believe that the findings state that the district judge was a *state* prosecutor. The judge was quoted as having stated: "Because so many lawyers, law students and officers from my cases as a prosecutor have stopped by to visit me ...." I may have totally missed it, but this is important to note in trying to identify the judge.
Separately, I'm not sure it's great judgment on the part of the judicial council not to have identified the judge in the reprimand. I understand that a reprimand serves a distinct purpose, but I also suspect that the judge's identity will be discovered shortly in any event.
Thanks for posting. Must be either Georgia or Alabama since it was a district attorney fundraiser and FL has state attorneys not district attorneys.
This is outrageous. The public has a right to know and a judge with this poor of judgment ought to go.
Isn’t lying to Pryor, who was conducting an investigation a 1001 or obstruction offense? If this is an Obama appointee, would expect impeachment proceedings.
Thanks, I fixed that.
Based on Marco Polo, it appears this is an Obama appointee.
Curious how gender neutrality is suddenly comprehensible and utilized when convenient. It really isn't that hard to use they/them, is it?
I mean, it was used because the committee was trying (unsuccessfully) to avoid identifying the judge, not because the judge thought that she was really a he. Wrong place to make this point.
I thought for sure it was a male DJ from SDFL. There is talk of similar shenanigans except with intern or law clerk.
Lolz - where is the right place to make this point?
Was the LEO a strapping Canadian Mountie?
Maybe I want a judge to decide my motion to suppress after he/she has had a good boink in chambers. Maybe they are in a better mood after that. Just saying sometimes make lemonade from lemons. 🍋
Ninja sleuth work here: https://reason.com/volokh/2026/05/27/who-is-the-district-court-judge-who-was-privately-reprimanded-for-having-loud-sex-in-her-chambers-with-a-law-enforcement-officer-from-her-district/
Reason.com has a sleuth article identifying the Judge as Ross out of Atlanta and the cop as Deputy Chief Kelly, formerly of Florida (of course). Her husband is a judge but no word on the cop’s wife’s job. See https://reason.com/volokh/2026/05/27/who-is-the-district-court-judge-who-was-privately-reprimanded-for-having-loud-sex-in-her-chambers-with-a-law-enforcement-officer-from-her-district/
and https://www.atlantapd.org/about-apd/community-services-division/deputy-chief-kelley-collier-community-services-division#:~:text=Deputy%20Chief%20Collier%20is%20originally,positive%20outcomes%20for%20the%20department.
TMZ says it's Ross, as well: https://www.tmz.com/2026/05/28/judge-who-had-sex-in-her-chambers-sentenced-todd-chrisley/
Yeah, they get a medal otherwise...
So exactly what was the violation here? Having consensual sex in chambers? Drinking martinis at a party? Is she required to detail her personal sex life to the chief judge?
"eventual candor" - That's a mitigating factor right out of the sentencing guidelines, right?
Seriously? Having sex in chambers, during the work day, with a person whose job/department affiliation give rise to conflict of interest perceptions, in the earshot of subordinate staff? And then lying to the chief about it? Specifically, blaming a law clerk with an invented theory of retaliation?
Yes 9:04. We call it “Acceptance of responsibility”. But this lady didn’t deserve that mitigator because she’s still not being honest.
The right place to make that point would be a situation where a non-binary person was referred to as "they" or "them".
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