US judge recuses herself in Georgia election case after having sex with officer in chambers

A federal judge who was disciplined after an investigation found that she had sex with a police officer in her chambers and attended a partisan event – then lied when confronted with the allegations – has recused herself in a fight over Georgia election records after the US justice department raised questions about her ability to be impartial. The justice department sought to remove Eleanor Ross, a US district judge, from the case, citing her reported attendance at an event for Fani Willis , the Fulton county district attorney who prosecuted Donald Trump in between his two presidencies. Ross on Tuesday filed an order recusing herself, writing that she was doing so “out of an abundance of caution for the potential perception of bias”. The justice department had sued Georgia secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, seeking an unredacted statewide voter list, and Ross was presiding over that case. “Both the Trump administration’s present and Willis’s past efforts have become heavily polarized,” Ross wrote, explaining that she “cannot discount” that an objective observer might interpret her attendance at an event sponsored by Willis’ campaign as support for the district attorney’s position, even if she only went to see former colleagues. …