The U.S. Department of Justice filed a motion Friday asking U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross to recuse herself from an election records case in Atlanta, arguing that her reported attendance at an event honoring Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis raises questions about impartiality.
Ross is overseeing a lawsuit the Justice Department brought against Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger seeking statewide voter lists. The DOJ argues that any "objective reasonable observer" would view Ross's presence at an event celebrating Willis—an official best known for prosecuting President Donald Trump—as an endorsement of her actions in office.
A person who answered the phone in Ross' chambers said the judge was unavailable and referred questions about the allegations to the court's media office, which said, "Judge Ross has no comment right now."
"## What the Left Is Saying"
Democratic legal analysts and some former Justice Department officials have raised questions about the timing and motivations behind the recusal request. The motion comes as the Trump administration pursues aggressive access to state voter records across multiple jurisdictions.
Willis gained national prominence for her investigation into Trump's efforts to overturn Georgia's 2020 election results, including a January 2021 phone call in which Trump urged Raffensperger to "find" votes needed to overturn Democrat Joe Biden's win. Willis obtained an indictment against Trump and 18 others in August 2023, though that case was ultimately dismissed in November after an appeals court found an appearance of impropriety created by a romantic relationship Willis had with the outside lawyer she hired to lead the prosecution.
Critics of the DOJ motion note that Ross was nominated by then-President Barack Obama in 2014 and previously served as a state court judge. Some progressive observers argue the recusal request could be an attempt to delay or derail the voter records case, which has proceeded under Ross's supervision for months without prior objection.
"## What the Right Is Saying"
Justice Department lawyers wrote in their filing that "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."
Conservative legal commentators have defended the recusal request as consistent with judicial ethics standards. The DOJ filing states that any "objective reasonable observer" would see Ross's presence at Willis's event as an endorsement of her election and prosecution decisions.
Republican officials supporting the administration argue that judicial impartiality requires judges to avoid even the appearance of political entanglement, particularly in cases involving high-profile prosecutions and election-related disputes. They note that federal ethics rules require recusal when a judge's impartiality might reasonably be questioned.
"## What the Numbers Show"
The disciplinary record reveals additional concerns about Ross's conduct. A court investigation by the Judicial Council of the 11th Circuit found that the judge had sex in her courthouse chambers with a high-ranking uniformed police officer within earshot of staff and initially lied to deny the allegations. The council imposed a private reprimand in February, though it did not publicly identify Ross as the subject judge.
The DOJ filing makes passing mention of these allegations but states they "are not the subject of this Motion." The Justice Department's recusal request focuses solely on Ross's attendance at the Willis event.
Ross was nominated by Obama in January 2014 and confirmed by the Senate in November of that year. She previously served as a state court judge in DeKalb County since 2011 and worked as a federal prosecutor for more than a decade before taking the bench.
"## The Bottom Line"
The recusal motion sets up a significant procedural battle in the voter records case. Ross has scheduled a hearing for Wednesday, though the DOJ has asked to delay that proceeding pending resolution of its recusal request.
Raffensperger has said Georgia law prohibits release of voters' confidential personal information unless certain qualifications are met and that the federal government had not met those conditions. He has said he sent the public portion of the voter roll to the Justice Department in December.
If Ross does not voluntarily recuse herself, the DOJ could appeal to the 11th Circuit Judicial Council or seek other remedies. The dispute adds another layer to ongoing tensions between state election officials and the federal government over access to voter data.
Ross previously worked in the Fulton County district attorney's office and overlapped with Willis there before Willis became district attorney in January 2021.