Federal judge chastised for in-chambers affair with cop

ATLANTA (CN) — The Atlanta Police Department is investigating whether an officer who had an extramarital affair with a federal judge in their chambers last year was one of their own.

The investigation, announced Thursday, signals the affair likely occurred at the Richard B. Russell Federal Building in Atlanta, home of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

The 11th Circuit Judicial Counsel said the officer was “high-ranking,” but did not specify which department they worked for. It said they worked for their department since 1998 and currently serve as “the commander of a certain division.”

Meanwhile, the unnamed U.S. district judge was mostly let off the hook and allowed to remain on the bench.

Last week, the court’s “private reprimand” for the judge’s misconduct was affirmed by the Committee on Judicial Conduct and Disability of the Judicial Conference.

In the committee’s review of the order, it found the imposed remedial action was appropriate for the seriousness of the misconduct and that no error of law or abuse of discretion occurred in the investigatory process.

Additionally, the judge agreed to issue letters of apology to the six former law clerks interviewed during the investigation, forego service as chief judge should they be otherwise eligible, and indefinitely refrain from serving on any Judicial Conference committee.

The special committee appointed by Chief U.S. Circuit Judge William Pryor Jr. based its recommendation on the judge’s otherwise exemplary service to the court and the belief they were unlikely to engage in similar misconduct going forward.

It also decided to punish the judge privately in part because they ultimately confessed to the affair at the courthouse and worked with investigators after having initially denied the accusations.

In September 2025, a law clerk for the reprimanded judge reported they were engaging in sexual activity with a uniformed police officer in the judge’s office during work hours on multiple occasions while staff were within earshot in chambers.

The law clerk also reported the judge failed to mentor the law clerks and edit their work, even yelling and cursing at staff.

To investigate the potential misconduct, the special committee interviewed six of the judge’s former law clerks, reviewed documents including emails and text messages, and examined security footage and visitor sign-in logs. It even conducted testing in chambers with similar layouts to determine whether law clerks seated outside could hear sounds from within and arranged forensic testing of a couch cushion in the judge’s chambers.

In December 2025, the investigatory committee issued its report finding the judge engaged in judicial misconduct by having an extramarital affair with a high-ranking law enforcement officer and having sexual intercourse in the judge’s chambers during business hours. The committee also determined the judge attended a partisan political event and made false statements.

During the two-year period in which the affair was ongoing, the police department was involved in numerous criminal and civil cases being litigated in the district.

After analyzing court records to determine whether the judge had been assigned a case in which the officer’s department had an interest in, the committee determined the judge’s relationship with the officer was due to “happenstance” and was not a conflict of interest.

According to the committee, judges are also prohibited from attending “a dinner or other event sponsored by a political organization or candidate." Yet, the chastised judge knowingly attended a “mixer” event hosted by a district attorney’s campaign for former employees of their office, where the judge previously worked.

It concluded that the judge’s attendance was a “onetime lapse in judgment and not part of a larger pattern of improper participation in partisan politics,” as the judge did not speak publicly, make any donation, or otherwise engage in political activity.

As to the false statements, the committee found the judge made false statements to the chief circuit judge when responding to the accusations before eventually retracting and apologizing for them. The judge called the claims “outrageous” and “baseless” and implied that the law clerk made the complaint in retaliation for having been chastised for their performance.

Ultimately, there was not enough evidence for the committee to find the judge’s treatment of staff constituted judicial misconduct, despite finding the judge “created a chambers workplace that was extremely uncomfortable and troubling for clerks.”

“The committee is confident that, with an increased level of engagement from the subject judge, some of the workplace atmosphere concerns raised by law clerks will dissipate,” it wrote in its report.

While the name of the judge remains unknown, there are currently 13 federal judges serving the Northern District of Georgia.

Follow @Megwiththenews