Eleanor Louise Ross (née Barnwell; born December 8, 1967) is a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...

of the

United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia The United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia (in case citations, N.D. Ga.) is a United States district court which serves the residents of forty-six counties. These are divided up into four divisions. Appeals from cases ...

and former judge of the DeKalb County State Court.

Biography

Ross received her

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree in 1989, from

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

. She received her

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

in 1994, from the

University of Houston Law Center The University of Houston Law Center is the law school of the University of Houston in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1947, the Law Center is one of 12 colleges of the University of Houston, a state university. It is accredited by the American Bar A ...

. She began her legal career as an assistant district attorney in Tarrant County, Texas, from 1995 to 1996. She served as an assistant solicitor general in the Office of the

DeKalb County DeKalb County may refer to one of several counties in the United States, all of which were named for Baron Johan DeKalb: * DeKalb County, Alabama * DeKalb County, Georgia * DeKalb County, Illinois * DeKalb County, Indiana * DeKalb County, Missouri ...

, Georgia, Solicitor General, from 1997 to 1998. From 1998 to 2002, she was a senior assistant district attorney in the

Fulton County Fulton County is the name of eight counties in the United States of America. Most are named for Robert Fulton, inventor of the first practical steamboat: *Fulton County, Arkansas, named after Governor William Savin Fulton *Fulton County, Georgia *F ...

District Attorney's Office. From 2002 to 2005, she was an

assistant United States attorney An assistant United States attorney (AUSA) is an official career civil service position in the U.S. Department of Justice composed of lawyers working under the U.S. Attorney of each U.S. federal judicial district. They represent the federal gove ...

in the Northern District of Georgia. From 2007 to 2011, she served as executive assistant district attorney in the Fulton County District Attorney's Office. From 2011 to 2014, she served as a judge on the DeKalb County state court.

Federal judicial service

On December 19, 2013, President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

nominated Ross to serve as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, to the seat vacated by Judge Charles A. Pannell Jr., who assumed

senior status Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the Federal judiciary of the United States, federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of servi ...

on January 31, 2013. She received a hearing before the

United States Senate Judiciary Committee The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the Department of Justice (DOJ), consider executive and judicial nominations, a ...

on May 13, 2014. On June 19, 2014, her nomination was reported out of committee by a

voice vote In parliamentary procedure, a voice vote (from the Latin ''viva voce'', meaning "live voice") or acclamation is a voting method in deliberative assemblies (such as legislatures) in which a group vote is taken on a topic or motion by responding vo ...

. On November 12, 2014, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid filed for cloture on her nomination. On November 17, 2014, the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

invoked cloture on her nomination by a 66–29 vote. On November 18, 2014, she was confirmed by a

. She received her judicial commission on November 20, 2014.

Notable rulings

*In November 2018 Ross ruled against then Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp whose office delayed 50,000 voting registration applications placed on hold due to Georgia's “exact-match” law, requiring that personal information on voter applications match what is on state databases. Her ruling allowed some 3,000 naturalized U.S. citizens to vote in elections and prevent the state from throwing out some absentee ballots. *In August 2020, Ross ordered Georgia to extend the deadline for receiving

absentee ballot An absentee ballot is a vote cast by someone who is unable or unwilling to attend the official polling station to which the voter is normally allocated. Methods include voting at a different location, postal voting, proxy voting and online votin ...

s by three days. That decision was later stayed by a split panel of the

Eleventh Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (in case citations, 11th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the following U.S. district courts: * Middle District of Alabama * Northern District of Alabama * ...

. *She presided over the tax evasion trial of Todd and Julie Chrisley,

reality TV Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

personalities from ''

Chrisley Knows Best ''Chrisley Knows Best'' is an American reality television series that premiered on the USA Network on March 11, 2014. It revolves around the lives of Georgia real estate tycoon Todd Chrisley and his wealthy family. The show was filmed in Roswel ...

'' In June 2022, they were found guilty. Ross sentenced Todd Chrisley to 12 years and Julie Crisley to 7 years in prison.

Personal life

She is married to Brian Ross, a

judge and former

Clayton County Clayton County is the name of two counties in the United States: * Clayton County, Georgia in the Atlanta Metropolitan Area * Clayton County, Iowa It was also the former name of Clay County, Arkansas Clay County is a County (United States), co ...

prosecutor.

References

External links