The judge who was handed a slap on the wrist after a sordid courthouse affair with a top cop has been named as a Barack Obama appointee who once handed lengthy prison sentences to reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley.

Eleanor Ross of the Atlanta-based US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia was accused of having sex with a senior police officer within earshot of law clerks. 

The married judge's alleged affair is said to have lasted around two years and to have regularly unfolded inside her chambers, according to a 22-page judicial complaint filed in February. 

Their alleged trysts were rumbled after clerks reported hearing 'moaning' and 'kissing' sounds coming from inside the judge's office. The Daily Mail contacted Ross and her office for comment but did not receive a response.

But when Daily Mail reporters managed to reach Ross' husband, DeKalb County Judge Brian Ross, his reaction was stranger still.

As a Daily Mail reporter listened on the phone, his assistant Lisa Comey walked over and confronted him about the allegations engulfing his wife. Moments later, she returned claiming, 'He didn't seem surprised.'

Comey said it was the first time she herself had heard the allegations. Ross and the police officer are referred to in the complaint only as 'Subject Judge' and 'Officer.' 

The complaint was confirmed by the Committee on Judicial Conduct and Disability of the Judicial Conference on Friday. 

At least half a dozen staffers cooperated with the investigation.

Ross, identified by Bloomberg Law citing a person familiar with the matter, was appointed to the bench by Barack Obama in 2013. 

A clerk identified as 'Law Clerk A,' who sat immediately outside the judge's chambers, claimed to have heard aggressive 'moaning' and 'kissing sounds' on more than one occasion after the officer entered the judge's chambers. The clerk even said they heard the officer say the word 'affair' on one occasion.

Another clerk forced to listen to their courthouse hook ups said they were 'made "very uncomfortable" by what the clerk heard coming from the judge's office.'

According to the complaint, a third unnamed law clerk 'stated that the clerk was so unsettled by what the clerk heard that the clerk had to leave the office for the day.'

One of the clerks reported that a seat cushion inside the judge's chambers was 'stained in a manner consistent with semen,' and while DNA tests found the stain was negative, the judge's admissions led investigators to deem it was likely 'that the judge feared the test might return a positive result.'

When first confronted with the clerks' accusations in 2025, the subject judge initially denied the affair, writing to the Chief District Judge on September 29 that she was 'astounded and confused' by the claims. 

In a follow up letter, she suggested the allegations were fabricated as retaliation for forcing clerks to work from the office.

Just 11 days later, the subject judge submitted a supplemental response through an attorney, admitting to her affair and to having sex with the officer in her office.

The judge was only given a 'private reprimand' and forced to pen apologies to six law clerks who worked in her office.

In the complaint, the subject judge was also accused of attending a boozy partisan political event for a local District Attorney, which allegedly impaired her ability to perform her duties on the bench the next day.

Investigators said that the judge admitted to an intern immediately after presiding over a criminal hearing that she had 'too many martinis the night before at what may have been a political event for a District Attorney.'

According to the complaint, the judge ended her work day early after explaining how she had too much to drink at a primary election victory party, leaving two clerks 'mortified' by her comments.

According to court documents viewed by the Daily Mail, Ross presided over a criminal revocation of supervised release on May 22, 2024, the morning after District Attorney Fani Willis's election victory party.

Ross and Willis have more in common than just politics, it seems.  

Willis was famously disqualified from prosecuting the 2020 Georgia election after it was revealed she had an affair of her own, engaging in a romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she hired to lead the election interference case. 

Willis and Wade admitted to the affair, but insisted that it started after Wade was hired.

Ross was a prosecutor at both state and federal levels for 15 years before becoming a judge for the DeKalb County State Court in 2011, according to National Archives. Two years later, she was nominated to the US District Court by then-president Obama.

At Ross' judicial nomination hearing in 2014, she referred to her husband, who sat supportively behind her, as her 'rock and source of inspiration.' 

During her 13 years on the bench, she ruled on several high-profile cases.

In 2020, Ross dismissed two lawsuits brought by Georgia Republicans seeking to restrict absentee ballot processing ahead of Senate runoffs. 

Ross's ruling sparked harsh backlash from conservatives, who said her ruling seriously undermined the state's election integrity. 

In 2022, Ross presided over the trial of Todd Chrisley, a reality TV star who, alongside wife Julie Chrisley, faced several charges including bank fraud and tax evasion. 

The Chrisley Knows Best stars were accused of conspiring to defraud community banks out of more than $30 million in loans. 

Ross handed down a 12-year sentence to Todd, and a seven year sentence for Julie. They were also ordered to pay more than $17 million in restitution. 

The Chrisleys were pardoned three years later by President Donald Trump. 

On Wednesday, Chrisley slammed Ross in a social media post following the revelation that she was the unnamed judge in the complaint. 

'This corrupt judge who couldn't focus on our case because she was too busy clapping dem cheeks in her chambers,' Chrisley wrote on Instagram.

He continued, saying that 'she needs to be impeached and we will work with Congress and our legal team to see that this happens.