Trump DOJ gives judge a deadline to oust herself after 'discovery' of 'misconduct,' claiming emergency need to smoke out dead people

Main: President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, June 3, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon). Left inset: U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross (U.S. District Court). Right inset: Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis looks on during a hearing on the Georgia election interference case, March 1, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Alex Slitz, Pool).

The DOJ strongly suggested that a federal judge must decide whether to disqualify herself from a Georgia voter rolls lawsuit by a deadline the government set, or else face the prospect of being forced out by an appeals court.

The emergency motion filed Wednesday by DOJ Civil Rights Division Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon urged U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross to make a decision by June 12, citing the "discovery of the judicial misconduct" on her part that "has already delayed this litigation."

Georgia's Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has resisted the administration's demands for a "full and unredacted" statewide "voter registration list," at a time when the DOJ is actively engaged in a criminal probe of Fulton County and the 2020 presidential election, which Joe Biden won.

Motions to dismiss for failure to state a claim are pending and a hearing was scheduled for Wednesday, but Ross called off that hearing, saying she would not rule until she decided DOJ's disqualification motion.

The government has since countered by trying to turn up the heat on Ross, giving the Barack Obama appointee a June 12 deadline to rule on whether to step aside. Noting that "no party has filed an opposition" so far, and citing the "rapidly approaching" election starting with early voting in mid-October, the DOJ argued that "voters need to know that their elections are secure and that noncitizens, deceased individuals, and voters with multiple records are not registered to vote in Georgia elections."

Complaining of delays that are "no fault" of its own, the government warned that it will consider filing a petition for a writ of mandamus with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to force Ross out if she doesn't leave on her own.

"If the Court denies the Motion, delays may nonetheless continue, should the United States exercise its right to immediately challenge that decision through a petition for a writ of mandamus," the filing said, citing a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals case in which mandamus "requir[ed] recusal where the judge was close friends with the defendant."

The DOJ referenced recent reports of a private reprimand against a judge for "engaging in an extramarital affair with a high-ranking law enforcement officer and having sexual intercourse in the judge's chambers during business hours within hearing distance of staff," by "attending a partisan political event" for Fulton County DA Fani Willis, and by "making false statements to the Chief Circuit Judge and Chief District Judge that were material to the investigation of the allegations."

More Law&Crime coverage: DOJ warrant cited violations it 'cannot prosecute' to 'improperly leapfrog' discovery and seize 2020 ballots, Fulton County tells judge

On one occasion, the reprimand said, Ross told staff she had "too many martinis the night before" at an event for an unidentified DA.

As Law&Crime reported, the reprimand named neither Ross nor Willis, a Democrat who tried and failed to prosecute President Donald Trump in a sprawling election interference RICO action. News reports and the use of AI exposed what was hidden behind redactions, however, and the DOJ sought Ross' disqualification.