A federal judge in Georgia recuses herself from a voting-related lawsuit after an investigation found she attended a political event for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross, who sits in the Northern District of Georgia, steps aside from a case brought by the Justice Department that seeks Georgia voter registration information. The recusal follows findings that Ross attended a campaign event for Willis, who is a Democrat and previously prosecuted Donald Trump following the 2020 election.
According to reports, Ross grants the Justice Department’s request to step down. While she does not fully agree with every characterization in the department’s filing, she determines she should recuse from the matter. The case continues without her, and the government’s effort to obtain voter roll data proceeds in federal court under new judicial assignment or reassignment procedures. The recusal centers on concerns related to the judge’s prior participation in a political event connected to the prosecutor associated with the earlier Trump-related case. The filings and recusal decision do not resolve the underlying merits of the Justice Department’s request.
