ATLANTA (AP) — Two congressional Republicans from Georgia have introduced impeachment resolutions against a federal judge in Atlanta who was disciplined after an investigation found she had sex with a police officer in her chambers, attended a partisan political event and lied to investigators looking into the alleged misconduct.
U.S. Reps. Clay Fuller and Andrew Clyde filed the resolutions against U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross. Clyde wrote Tuesday on social media that Ross' “deeply disturbing actions prove she is incapable of displaying integrity or impartiality. She must be impeached and removed from the bench.”
It is up to the House Judiciary Committee to decide whether to start impeachment proceedings against Ross. Federal judges are appointed for life and can only be removed from the bench through impeachment.
A person who answered the phone in the judge’s chambers Tuesday afternoon said Ross had no comment.
Ross was nominated to the Northern District of Georgia in January 2014 by then-President Barack Obama, a Democrat, and she was confirmed by the Senate in November of that year. She had previously served as a state court judge in DeKalb County, which includes a small part of Atlanta, since 2011. Before taking the bench, she had worked as a state and federal prosecutor, mostly in Atlanta, for more than a decade.
The investigation of Ross began after one of her law clerks reported that on multiple occasions the judge had engaged in sexual activity with a high-ranking uniformed police officer in her office within earshot of staff. It also was alleged that the judge didn’t properly supervise clerks and on one occasion yelled and cursed at staff.
Ross received a “private reprimand” after the investigation confirmed the sexual activity and found she attended a partisan event and initially lied to deny the allegations.
The court’s investigation did not publicly identify the judge or the court location within the 11th Circuit’s jurisdiction, which includes Alabama, Florida and Georgia. A person familiar with the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter confirmed to The Associated Press that Ross was the judge who was disciplined.
Separately, the Atlanta Police Department has said it has opened an investigation to determine whether the “high-ranking law enforcement officer” found to have had sex with a federal judge in the judge’s chambers is a member of their department.
William Pryor, the chief judge of the 11th Circuit, opened the initial investigation of Ross. He asked her to respond to the clerk's allegations and she replied the same day and “specifically denied” each allegation. In a follow-up email the next day, the judge speculated to Pryor that the law clerk may have invented things in retaliation for being required to work in the office.
Pryor appointed a special committee to investigate. That investigation was detailed in a report attached to the disciplinary order.
The committee’s review of logs and security footage showed an officer had frequently visited the judge’s chambers in uniform around lunchtime. Six clerks recalled seeing someone who fit the officer’s description, with three remembering overhearing what may have been sexual activity in the judge’s office.
Three clerks remembered bringing summer interns on their first day to watch the judge presiding over a hearing in a criminal case. Right after that, they told the committee, the judge declined to have lunch with the interns, acknowledging having too many martinis the night before at a primary election victory party for a district attorney friend.
The clerks said the judge didn’t provide sufficient guidance and “rarely, if ever, substantively edited civil orders the clerks drafted.” While clerks described an “eggshell culture,” the committee didn’t find evidence of abusive behavior.
The judge ultimately admitted to having an extramarital sexual relationship with the officer but denied the allegations about mistreatment of staff, the committee wrote. The judge acknowledged to the committee having gone to a “mixer” of former employees of a district attorney’s office, where the judge used to work but said it was in a separate room from the victory party.
FILE - The exterior of the U.S. Courthouse for the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stands in Atlanta, July 21, 2019. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)
FILE - Fulton County Senior ADA Eleanor Ross speaks during opening statements Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2010 in Atlanta. (Vino Wong/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, File)
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Graham Platner has attracted a following of enthusiastic supporters and been confronted with a string of controversies as he has transformed from a political unknown into the leading Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in one of the year’s most critical races.
As polls neared closing Tuesday evening in Maine, Platner was making his final pitch to voters to win the Democratic nomination to face longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins, a contest that Democrats see as a must-win as the party tries to claim control of the Senate in November.
“We're going to change the world,” Platner said in a video posted on social media ahead of polls closing at 8 p.m. “We. All of us.”
Platner's path to the nomination grew easier in late April when Democratic Gov. Janet Mills dropped out citing a lack of money, though her name still appears on the primary ballot because she suspended her campaign late in the race. The only other Democratic candidate is David Costello, a former government official in Maryland who has not campaigned aggressively.
Platner has been dogged by political controversy, including sexually explicit text messages he reportedly sent to women while he was married and former girlfriends' claims that he could be demeaning toward women. His background has made some Democrats anxious about their chance to flip the important seat.
He said during an event days before Tuesday's primary that he wants to “take this seat back for working Mainers” by beating Collins.
Maine voters on Tuesday also will choose Republican and Democratic nominees for governor in crowded contests to replace Mills. In the 2nd Congressional District, Democrats will choose a nominee to face former Gov. Paul LePage, who is unopposed in the GOP primary. Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Golden is stepping down, giving Republicans hope of winning back a district that President Donald Trump easily won in 2024.
The primaries will involve the use of ranked choice voting, in which voters can rank the candidates on their ballot in order of preference. If no candidate breaks 50% of the popular vote, the bottom finisher is eliminated, and voters’ second choices come into play. The tabulations continue until a candidate achieves a majority of the total votes, meaning results may not be known for days.
Platner, 41, is a Marine veteran and oyster farmer who was chair of the planning board in the small town of Sullivan. He has focused his campaign on fighting the high costs he says hold down the middle class and said he got in the race to focus on income inequality.
He had early support from progressive champions like Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, helping to boost his candidacy. Senate Democratic leader Sen. Chuck Schumer backed Mills, 78.
Platner campaigned as an outsider willing to take on billionaires and the Washington establishment, including Collins. He has drawn hundreds of people to his rallies around the state.
His background has generated criticism from both the right and the left.
Old online comments made by Platner in which he appeared to endorse political violence, dismiss rape in the military and criticize both police officers and rural America surfaced last year. Platner apologized for the comments and said he was struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression when he wrote them.
He’s also faced questions about a skull-and-crossbones tattoo recognized as a Nazi symbol. Platner said he got the tattoo on his chest during a night of drinking while he was on leave in Croatia. He has maintained that he was unaware until recently that the image had been associated with Nazis, and he has since covered the tattoo with a different design. Platner has said he didn’t know the origin of the symbol; a former girlfriend told New York Times that he did.
More recently, he went on the defensive amid reports that he previously exchanged sexually explicit text messages with several women while married. Platner hasn’t directly denied the existence of the texts but instead criticized the aide who talked to news outlets and accused the media of running gossip.
The New York Times last week reported about his relationships with previous girlfriends, some of whom viewed him positively and others who described him as volatile and insulting. One woman said Platner twisted her arm during an argument and locked her in a room. Platner’s campaign disputed the allegation.
Annette Babcock, who is from Platner's hometown of Sullivan, said she's met him a few times and likes that he’s not an established politician. His recent controversies didn't dissuade her from supporting him Tuesday.
“The Republicans don’t have much moral high ground to stand on when they’re criticizing him for what he’s done when (President Donald) Trump is a convicted felon,” she said.
A matchup between Platner and Collins would pit a progressive with no experience in high office against one of the most powerful legislators in the Senate, and one of its few remaining moderate Republicans.
First elected in 1996, Collins is the only Republican senator left from New England. She has said her experience and key position as chair of the powerful appropriations committee are two reasons to send her back to the Senate.
“It has been 92 years since a Maine senator was chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, the most powerful committee in the Senate,” Collins said in May, saying she had a “once-in-a-century opportunity to help the state of Maine."
In the governor's race, Democrats are choosing between Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows; former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson; former Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives Hannah Pingree; energy executive Angus King III; and former director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention Nirav Shah.
The Republican ballot for governor is even more crowded. Republicans will choose between former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Bobby Charles; healthcare executive Jonathan Bush; former Maine Senate Majority Leader Garrett Mason; University of Maine System trustee Owen McCarthy; former Paris, Maine, selectman Robert Wessels; and business owners David Jones and Ben Midgley.
In the 2nd Congressional District, former Maine Secretary of State Matt Dunlap, state Sen. Joe Baldacci, former U.S. Senate candidate Jordan Wood and social worker Paige Loud are on the ballot for the Democrats. The winner will face LePage, a Trump ally.
Associated Press journalist Rodrique Ngowi contributed from Sullivan, Maine.
Graham Platner, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, speaks to an overflow crowd outside a campaign event Sunday, June 7, 2026, in Portland, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, heads to the chamber before votes on the immigration enforcement funding package, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Supporters cheer for Graham Platner, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, at a campaign event Sunday, June 7, 2026, in Portland, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Graham Platner, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, speaks at a campaign event Friday, June 5, 2026, in Bar Harbor, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
