A married federal judge named Eleanor Ross was reportedly reprimanded for engaging in sex with a police official inside courthouse chambers amid an affair.
The alleged extramarital affair involved 58-year-old Judge Eleanor Ross of the Northern District of Georgia and Atlanta Police Department (APD) Deputy Chief Kelley Collier, a person familiar with the situation told Bloomberg Law. Atlanta’s WSB-TV 2, citing several individuals familiar with the investigation, confirmed that Judge Ross was indeed the subject of a report issued by Chief Judge William Pryor.
They allegedly had sex in the court chambers “during business hours” across a two-year window. The alleged affair took place within the hearing of law clerks, according to previous coverage by the outlet. The Eleventh Circuit’s Special Committee provided a final report in December after a judge was named in a judicial complaint back in September.
The alleged affair “demonstrated a gross lack of judgment” and amounted to a “chambers workplace that was extremely uncomfortable and troubling for clerks,” according to the committee report. Judge Ross was verbally reprimanded in private, the person familiar told Bloomberg Law.
🚨 Bloomberg Law has identified Eleanor Ross as the federal judge privately reprimanded after investigators found she repeatedly had sex with a police officer in chambers during business hours. The report said the affair raised conflict concerns and disrupted the courthouse… pic.twitter.com/SxT871vBcK
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) May 28, 2026
However, the committee noted that the judge “has demonstrated a strong propensity for rehabilitation and continued diligent service to the judiciary,” according to the report.
The judicial report said the police officer involved in the alleged affair “currently serves as the commander of a certain division” in their police department and has served since 1998. Collier is the APD’s Community Services Division Commander and joined the force in 1998, according to the agency’s website.
The APD said they launched an investigation Thursday. “The Atlanta Police Department has launched an investigation to determine if the person mentioned in the Committee on Judicial Conduct and Disability of the Judicial Conference of the United States, is indeed an employee of the Atlanta Police Department,” they said.
The APD issued a statement to Bloomberg Law. “The U.S. Court of Appeals has not identified the police officer as being a member of the Atlanta Police Department,” the agency said via email. “However, the Atlanta Police Department has made an inquiry with the U.S. Court of Appeals into the identity of the officer in question.”
The judge’s alleged misconduct “strikes at the heart of judicial integrity and destroys public confidence in an impartial, ethical court system,” Aliza Shatzman, the leader of the Legal Accountability Project, an advocacy group for judicial law clerks, said via a statement obtained by the outlet.
Ross previously oversaw the highly publicized criminal case of reality television stars Todd and Julie Chrisley for tax evasion and fraud, and dished out lengthy prison sentences against them in November 2022. The couple was pardoned by President Donald Trump in 2025. (RELATED: Judge Lays Into Progressive Prosecutors Before Slapping Violent Teen With Tough Sentence)
Todd Chrisley called for Ross to be impeached on Instagram “And now this corrupt judge who couldn’t focus on our case because she was too busy clapping dem cheeks in her chambers per the articles that are surfacing in the last few hours, she needs to be impeached and we will work with Congress and our legal team to see that this happens, she lied and then asked for forgiveness for admitting she lied,” he wrote. “This affair and her conduct was going on the entire time she was presiding over our case.”
The judge agreed to pen apology letters to the now-former clerks who were interviewed by the internal Eleventh Circuit committee, according to the report. The judge also pledged not to seek out the role of chief judge or a position on a Judicial Conference committee during their career.
Judge Ross was appointed by President Barack Obama in 2014 and is a graduate of American University and the University of Houston Law Center, according to the Federal Judicial Center. She is married to State Court Judge Brian Ross of DeKalb County, the State Court of DeKalb County website reads.
The Daily Caller reached out to Judge Eleanor Ross’ court reporter and Atlanta Police Department Deputy Chief Kelley Collier for comment. The APD referred the Caller to their website in response to a request for comment.
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