{"id":154373,"date":"2026-06-11T15:22:37","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T23:22:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/06\/11\/you-will-not-believe-the-apology-letter-judge-eleanor-ross-wrote-her-clerks\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T15:22:37","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T23:22:37","slug":"you-will-not-believe-the-apology-letter-judge-eleanor-ross-wrote-her-clerks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/06\/11\/you-will-not-believe-the-apology-letter-judge-eleanor-ross-wrote-her-clerks\/","title":{"rendered":"You Will Not Believe The \u2018Apology\u2019 Letter Judge Eleanor Ross Wrote Her Clerks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Judge Eleanor Ross is getting a lot of justified scorn right now, but folks are really<\/em> not directing enough disdain toward her judicial colleagues. While carrying out an affair with a high-ranking law enforcement official in chambers and then lying about it<\/a> will probably end up getting the Peach State judge impeached<\/a>, there\u2019s not enough of an uproar over the judges from the Eleventh Circuit and Judicial Conference Committee on Judicial Conduct and Disability who saw the facts of this matter and decided the right response was to bar Ross from having to deal with the administrative burden of serving as a chief judge and to write apology letters to her clerks.<\/p>\n

These judges even went so far as to structure the punishment as a private reprimand, hoping to keep the judge on the bench and the public entirely unaware. Except they failed to write a report sufficiently anonymized to fool basic AI<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As for those apology letters, Judge Ross had the gall to look the gift horse square in the mouth and asked if she could keep the letters vague. Arguably the only real penalty she expected to get from this was a wrist slapping, and she wanted it to hit even softer. AND THE OTHER JUDGES AGREED. \u201cThe special committee recommends that the Judicial Council instruct the Subject Judge to use the judge\u2019s best judgment in drafting letters of apology that communicate the judge\u2019s sentiments without risking undue embarrassment to the Subject Judge or the judiciary.\u201d The only caveat they imposed was that the vague language still be \u201csufficiently specific\u201d that the clerks could understand what it was about.<\/p>\n

The New York Times<\/em> obtained one of the apology letters<\/a> that Judge Ross sent her clerks and\u2026 wow.<\/p>\n

\n

Thank you for your contributions to our court during your clerkship. 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.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In her defense, that probably is specific enough for any clerk who sat 10 steps from the taxpayer-supported Love Shack. But it\u2019s exactly the mockery of the process that we all imagined when we read the report blessed her request to keep the letters vague.<\/p>\n

If you think \u2014 as a lot of folks seem to \u2014 that Ross\u2019s behavior so deeply compromises public faith in the judiciary that it warrants her removal from the bench, how can you look the other way when it comes to the many other federal judges who\u2026 looked the other way? They looked at these facts and concluded that it not only didn\u2019t warrant serious punishment, but that the public should never know who did it. <\/p>\n

That seems like at least as serious of a blow to the credibility of the judiciary. <\/p>\n

Sex, Lies and Secrets: A Federal Judge\u2019s Trysts Go Public<\/a> [New York Times]<\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>: Judge Eleanor Ross Impeachment Arrives Right On Schedule, Managing To Yet Again Botch The Standard<\/a>
Federal Judge Had Sex In Chambers Bringing New Meaning To Gavel Bang<\/a>
Judiciary Tried To Hide \u2018Sex In Chambers\u2019 Judge\u2019s Name. It Left A Roadmap To Identify Eleanor Ross Instead.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post You Will Not Believe The \u2018Apology\u2019 Letter Judge Eleanor Ross Wrote Her Clerks<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Judge Eleanor Ross is getting a lot of justified scorn right now, but folks are really<\/em> not directing enough disdain toward her judicial colleagues. While carrying out an affair with a high-ranking law enforcement official in chambers and then lying about it<\/a> will probably end up getting the Peach State judge impeached<\/a>, there\u2019s not enough of an uproar over the judges from the Eleventh Circuit and Judicial Conference Committee on Judicial Conduct and Disability who saw the facts of this matter and decided the right response was to bar Ross from having to deal with the administrative burden of serving as a chief judge and to write apology letters to her clerks.<\/p>\n

These judges even went so far as to structure the punishment as a private reprimand, hoping to keep the judge on the bench and the public entirely unaware. Except they failed to write a report sufficiently anonymized to fool basic AI<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As for those apology letters, Judge Ross had the gall to look the gift horse square in the mouth and asked if she could keep the letters vague. Arguably the only real penalty she expected to get from this was a wrist slapping, and she wanted it to hit even softer. AND THE OTHER JUDGES AGREED. \u201cThe special committee recommends that the Judicial Council instruct the Subject Judge to use the judge\u2019s best judgment in drafting letters of apology that communicate the judge\u2019s sentiments without risking undue embarrassment to the Subject Judge or the judiciary.\u201d The only caveat they imposed was that the vague language still be \u201csufficiently specific\u201d that the clerks could understand what it was about.<\/p>\n

The New York Times<\/em> obtained one of the apology letters<\/a> that Judge Ross sent her clerks and\u2026 wow.<\/p>\n

\n

Thank you for your contributions to our court during your clerkship. 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.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In her defense, that probably is specific enough for any clerk who sat 10 steps from the taxpayer-supported Love Shack. But it\u2019s exactly the mockery of the process that we all imagined when we read the report blessed her request to keep the letters vague.<\/p>\n

If you think \u2014 as a lot of folks seem to \u2014 that Ross\u2019s behavior so deeply compromises public faith in the judiciary that it warrants her removal from the bench, how can you look the other way when it comes to the many other federal judges who\u2026 looked the other way? They looked at these facts and concluded that it not only didn\u2019t warrant serious punishment, but that the public should never know who did it. <\/p>\n

That seems like at least as serious of a blow to the credibility of the judiciary. <\/p>\n

Sex, Lies and Secrets: A Federal Judge\u2019s Trysts Go Public<\/a> [New York Times]<\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>: Judge Eleanor Ross Impeachment Arrives Right On Schedule, Managing To Yet Again Botch The Standard<\/a>
Federal Judge Had Sex In Chambers Bringing New Meaning To Gavel Bang<\/a>
Judiciary Tried To Hide \u2018Sex In Chambers\u2019 Judge\u2019s Name. It Left A Roadmap To Identify Eleanor Ross Instead.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Judge Eleanor Ross is getting a lot of justified scorn right now, but folks are really not directing enough disdain toward her judicial colleagues. While carrying out an affair with a high-ranking law enforcement official in chambers and then lying about it will probably end up getting the Peach State judge impeached, there\u2019s not enough […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-154373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154373\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}