We've all watched movies about court dramas, where the honorable judge holds court, and then, when necessary, the judge declares, CHAMBERS! NOW!
Both sides of the legal case trudge back to the judge's chambers to discuss a point of contention. Inside the chambers, we see a messy desk full of notepads, all surrounded by a small library of legal books.
One Obama-appointed judge added a piece of furniture to her chambers, something a step below a motel room's mattress.
U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross serves on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia in Atlanta. President Barack Hussein Obama nominated her, the Senate confirmed her on Nov. 18, 2014, and she received her commission two days later.
Ross carried on a roughly two-year extramarital affair with Atlanta Police Department Deputy Chief Kelley Collier, commander of the department's Community Services Division. The relationship included sexual encounters in her chamber during business hours and within earshot of law clerks and court staff. From the Daily Caller:
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.
She remains an active federal judge, and her court profile still lists her chambers inside the Richard B. Russell Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse. Her newest public chapter reads less like judicial dignity and more like a courthouse farce with lifetime tenure attached.
🚨 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
Employees assigned to a federal judge shouldn't have to wonder whether chamber doors are keeping out distraction or barely containing a scandal. Judicial robes apparently don't come with soundproofing, self-control, or embarrassment.
As the feller says on TV, but wait, there's more!
The investigation found more than bad behavior: Ross first denied the allegations, called them baseless, and blamed a law clerk before later admitting the affair and the sexual escapades in her love chamber. From The Smoking Gun.
When first confronted in late-2025 with allegations about her workplace behavior, Eleanor Ross, 58, lied to her judicial superiors, claiming, in writing, the charges were “outrageous” and “baseless.” Ross, who was nominated to the federal bench in 2013 by President Barack Obama, asserted that accounts about “some very inappropriate conduct” were fabricated by a disgruntled law clerk.
“I have never engaged in sexual intercourse in my office, nor anywhere else in the Courthouse,” Ross wrote in her initial response to Chief Judge William H. Pryor Jr.
However, shortly after a Special Committee appointed by Pryor began its investigation--questioning witnesses, examining courthouse sign-in logs and security footage, and even testing a stained couch cushion for evidence of semen--Ross abruptly changed her tune.
The probe also found she attended a partisan political event, created a possible blackmail risk, and generated conflict concerns because Collier served as a high-ranking police official.
Federal judges lecture defendants about honesty, responsibility, and respect for the law. Ross needed a refresher course in all three, preferably well away from worn office furniture.
Ross is a microcosm of everything that was wrong with Obama's judgment of character; he can really pick 'em!
The Eleventh Circuit Judicial Council issued a private reprimand in February, and the Judicial Conference's Committee on Judicial Conduct and Disability upheld the discipline on May 22.
Ross agreed not to seek future service as chief judge, avoid Judicial Conference committee work, and write apology letters to affected clerks. For an ordinary employee, conduct like hers could mean a box, an escort to the elevator, and a short conversation with human resources. For a federal judge, the system produced a quiet letter and a promise to behave. From ABC News 4.
The Judicial Council of the 11th Circuit -- which oversees federal courts in Georgia, Florida and Alabama -- issued "a private reprimand" in February. That discipline was later upheld by the national conduct committee.
As part of the disciplinary action, the judge agreed not to seek a future role as chief judge, to refrain from serving on Judicial Conference committees, and to issue apology letters to the affected law clerks, according to the documents.
“No, really, I am truly sorry for having the sex with a man who's not my husband in my chambers where my law clerks could hear me. I will ask forgiveness in my letters to those clerks. Really, I will.”
The Obama appointment detail won't shock many conservatives, but the deeper problem reaches beyond party labels. Ross had a serious legal résumé before reaching the federal bench. She worked as a prosecutor, served as a DeKalb County State Court judge, and became the first black woman to sit on the Northern District of Georgia bench.
None of that excuses turning chambers into a chamber of fun, lying during an investigation, or leaving clerks to absorb the mess. Achievement doesn't ease misconduct; power makes conduct worse.
Ross remains U.S. District Judge Eleanor L. Ross. Collier remains Deputy Chief Kelley Collier while Atlanta police review the matter. Court employees got apology letters, and the public got another reminder that powerful institutions often whisper when insiders stumble and shout when ordinary Americans do.
A quiet touch on the wrist may close the file inside the judiciary, but it won't close the larger problem. If federal judges expect the country to respect the robe, they need to stop demanding a safe word from their partner while cavorting behind chamber doors.
Federal judges hold power most Americans will never touch, and scandals like Judge Eleanor Ross’s courthouse affair show how gently the system can treat insiders. Join PJ Media VIP and use promo code FIGHT for 60% off so you don’t miss sharper coverage of the double standards protected by polished titles and quiet reprimands.
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