Judge’s misconduct made public as Georgia lawmakers push impeachment

Shortly after a federal judge in Atlanta received a “private reprimand” for her conduct, the judge’s identity was disclosed.

Then, two congressional Republicans from Georgia introduced impeachment resolution against her.

An investigation found that U.S. District Court Judge Eleanor Ross had sex with a high-ranking police officer in her chambers, attended a partisan political event and then lied about it to investigators.

Georgia State University law professor Clark Cunningham told GPB News that lying about the conduct constitutes grounds for impeachment.

“That kind of misconduct involving deception was blocking an official proceeding. That’s official misconduct and certainly, as I read the impeachment clause, that constitutes a grounds for impeachment, even though it might not be a crime,” he said.

Although Cunningham said that the misconduct could also be grounds for impeachment, he said the deception was a much more serious act of misconduct.

“What’s much more serious is the fact that she lied about it when she was responding to an official inquiry. You know, if she had lied about something much more mundane but still deceived the chief judge, that would be equally grounds for impeachment,” he said.

Cunningham further disputed the initial private reprimand because it would have prevented impeachment proceedings by hiding the actions.

“I think it was really inappropriate for them to only issue a private reprimand. It’s the mistake of thinking of this is simply a question of, ‘Should she be punished?’ The real question here is, ‘How should the public be protected?’ And the private reprimand didn’t protect the public at all,” he said.

U.S. Reps. Clay Fuller and Andrew Clyde filed the resolution against Ross back in June. So far, the resolution has been sent to the House Committee on the Judiciary for review.