A married Atlanta judge who had a two-year affair with a police officer was ordered to rewrite tone-deaf apology letters to sickened staffers who sat in earshot of the sex that routinely took place in her chambers. 

Eleanor Ross of the Atlanta-based US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia was accused of having sex with a senior police officer in a 22-page judicial complaint filed in February.

The federal judge, who was nominated to the bench by Barack Obama in 2014, was investigated by the Committee on Judicial Conduct and Disability of the Judicial Conference, which confirmed the complaint last month. 

Ross was not named in the complaint, but she was independently identified by Bloomberg Law and the New York Times. 

Her soft-touch punishment included nothing more than a ‘private reprimand’ and an order to write apologies to six law clerks who worked in her office.

The committee said that those apology letters ‘should be sufficiently specific so as to make clear to the recipient the sexual misconduct for which the judge is apologizing.’

But the letters, which were dated May 27 and obtained by the Times, were all identical and just three sentences long. 

‘Thank you for your contributions to our court during your clerkship,’ Ross wrote. ‘I convey my deepest apology for not taking steps to ensure that it was a more positive experience. I wish you all the best in your future legal endeavors and in life.’

Federal Judge Eleanor Ross was privately reprimanded for having an affair with a senior police officer and ordered to write apologies to staffers who heard the sex in her office

Ross is pictured with her husband. Her affair with the police officer lasted around two and a half years 

Three former clerks who spoke to the Times anonymously for fear of reprisal said they were offended by the vagueness of the letters.

After the outlet published the letter, the 11th Circuit told the Times that another judge had ordered an inquiry into whether the apologies were sufficient. 

Four of the clerks who received the letters had complained that they did not comply with the committee’s order. Ross sent revised, lengthier apology letters on Thursday.

‘I am writing to you for a second time to convey my deepest apologies for my harmful, offensive, and unprofessional behavior that made your clerkship an unpleasant experience,’ the followup letters began.

‘My initial letter was entirely deficient, as I did not take full accountability for my actions, and I failed to give you the apology that you deserve,’ Ross continued.

‘I am profoundly sorry for exposing you to my inappropriate personal relationship during your clerkship, and for the harm that I have caused you. My actions were patently wrong, and there is no excuse.’

The judicial complaint filed in February detailed Ross’s sordid affair, which she admitted took place from late 2022 to the fall of 2025, based on interviews with at least half a dozen staffers who cooperated with the investigation.

A clerk identified as ‘Law Clerk A,’ who sat immediately outside the judge’s chambers, claimed to have heard aggressive ‘moaning’ and ‘kissing sounds’ on more than one occasion after the officer entered the judge’s chambers.

Ross was nominated to the bench by former President Barack Obama in 2014. She is pictured at her confirmation hearing while her husband sat supportively behind her

The clerk even said they heard the officer say the word ‘affair’ on one occasion.

Another clerk forced to listen to their courthouse hook-ups said they were ‘made “very uncomfortable” by what the clerk heard coming from the judge’s office.’

According to the complaint, a third unnamed law clerk ‘stated that the clerk was so unsettled by what the clerk heard that the clerk had to leave the office for the day.’

One of the clerks reported that a seat cushion inside the judge’s chambers was ‘stained in a manner consistent with semen,’ and while DNA tests found the stain was negative, the judge’s admissions led investigators to deem it was likely ‘that the judge feared the test might return a positive result.’

When first confronted with the accusations in 2025, Ross initially denied the affair, writing to the Chief District Judge on September 29 that she was ‘astounded and confused’ by the claims.

In a follow-up letter, she suggested the allegations were fabricated as retaliation for forcing clerks to work from the office.

Just 11 days later, the subject judge submitted a supplemental response through an attorney, admitting to her affair and to having sex with the officer in her office.

In the complaint, the subject judge was also accused of attending a boozy partisan political event for a local District Attorney, which allegedly impaired her ability to perform her duties on the bench the next day.

Ross is a judge for the Atlanta-based US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. The court

Investigators said that the judge admitted to an intern immediately after presiding over a criminal hearing that she had ‘too many martinis the night before at what may have been a political event for a District Attorney.’

According to the complaint, the judge ended her work day early after explaining how she had too much to drink at a primary election victory party, leaving two clerks ‘mortified’ by her comments.

Ross was further accused of giving barely any feedback on key motions in lawsuits drafted by clerks fresh out of law school, who estimated that she edited around just five percent of civil orders written in her name. 

Federal judges who commit serious offenses are often given a slap on the wrist and allowed to keep their positions, and their identities are typically kept private during investigations.

The complaint against Ross was just one of three reviewed by a special committee for examination last year, despite a total of 1,857 complaints being made. 

The committee said the judge’s affair ‘cast a pall’ on the workplace and left her open to blackmail but cited her ‘otherwise exemplary service’ when issuing her private reprimand.

The Daily Mail has reached out to Ross’s office for comment.