The U.S. Department of Justice has requested that a federal judge recuse herself from a case involving Georgia election records, citing reports that she attended an event honoring Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and was subject to judicial discipline.

The Justice Department's motion targets U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross in Atlanta, though the department relies on media reports to identify her as the subject of a recent judicial disciplinary action. The Judicial Council of the 11th Circuit issued a private reprimand in February to an unnamed federal judge following an investigation that found the judge attended a partisan event and engaged in sexual conduct in a courthouse with a police officer.

Ross is currently overseeing a case in which the Justice Department sued Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger seeking statewide voter lists. Raffensperger has argued that Georgia law prohibits releasing voters' confidential information unless certain conditions are met, which he says the federal government has not satisfied.

According to the disciplinary investigation report, the unnamed judge attended an event hosted by a district attorney's campaign. The judge acknowledged going to visit former colleagues at a private mixer held at the same location as the prosecutor's victory party. Ross previously worked in the Fulton County district attorney's office and overlapped with Willis before Willis became district attorney.

Willis gained national attention for prosecuting former President Donald Trump and 18 others in August 2023 over alleged efforts to overturn Georgia's 2020 election results. That case was ultimately dismissed in November after an appeals court found an "appearance of impropriety" due to a romantic relationship Willis had with an outside prosecutor she hired.

In their Friday filing, Justice Department lawyers argued that "a judge who attended a party celebrating the election of a Democrat best known for prosecuting a Republican President for alleged election interference cannot then preside over a case concerning that President's efforts to ensure election integrity." The department has requested a delay in a scheduled Wednesday hearing pending the recusal decision. Ross, who was nominated by President Barack Obama in 2014, has not commented on the allegations.