Judge Eleanor Ross, who serves on the federal bench in Atlanta, engaged in multiple acts of misconduct. She carried on a secret affair with an Atlanta police department officer for nearly two years, repeatedly had loud sex in her chambers, lied about her trysts, and obstructed the investigation. Each of these actions warranted a public reprimand and an impeachment inquiry. But one of the more stunning allegations has flown under the radar: Judge Ross routinely signs judicial orders her law clerks prepare without even reading them. Indeed, it seems she never even talks about these cases with her clerks, so likely has no clue what she is even approving. Yet the council that reviewed this case found no misconduct.
Let me tell you a not-so-well-kept secret: most judges let their law clerks do far too much. Take it from my personal experience. I clerked in a federal district court for two years immediately after law school. The judge I clerked for, who recently passed away, was a dedicated jurist and an honorable man, but he let his clerks have far too much autonomy. At the time, I was overwhelmed with how many important decisions turned on my immature judgment. In hindsight, I cringe at my mistakes that the judge did not catch. Judge Ross will likely lose her judgeship, either through resignation or impeachment. But the public needs to take a closer look at judges who have abdicated the judicial power to unknown law clerks.
The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeal’s Judicial Council, which reviews misconduct complaints, interviewed six of Judge Ross’s former law clerks. They explained that the judge’s “longstanding practice was to handle all criminal case work without law clerk assistance.” This choice makes some sense, as Ross was a former prosecutor. This work is also predictable. Virtually all federal cases wind up with plea bargains, so the most difficult work concerns calculating a defendant’s sentence. This sort of judgment will be based in large part on experience and judicial philosophy. The judge I clerked for would allow law clerks to make recommendations but he always calculated the sentence himself after considering all the evidence.