Three months after the Eleventh Circuit Judicial Council issued a private reprimand to N.D. Georgia Judge Eleanor Ross (right) for behavior Fix the Court believes deserved much more than that, three Republicans sent a letter to Chief Judge Bill Pryor requesting additional information about the circuit’s misconduct investigation.

The first few pages summarize Ross’ actions that led to the complaint and how the complaint process unfolded. It ends with three questions lawmakers whose answers lawmakers say will “inform whether additional action is warranted”:

1. “Why did the special committee choose to privately reprimand Judge Ross? (a) Why did the special committee not recommend that Judge Ross voluntarily retire from office for her misconduct? (b) How does her lenient punishment help to restore public trust in the judicial system?”

It’s not only retirement the judicial council could have called for; it could have issued a public reprimand, remove cases from here or a refer her to the Judicial Conference for possible impeachment. Or all of the above.

2. “Did the special committee investigate how Judge Ross’s attendance at a political event may have potentially influenced any of her cases?”

We’re focusing less on this issue because many Republicans hold a grudge against Fani Willis, whose event Ross attended, and we’re not going to get involved, other than to say Ross should’ve stayed away. We think the lack of oversight of the civil docket is one that’s more worthy of oversight.

3. “When the Judicial [Council] of the Eleventh Circuit adopted the special committee’s findings and recommendations, was there any disagreement among the [Council] that a stronger punishment for Judge Ross was warranted? Why or why not?”

Typically we know who sits on a special committee  — see research from FTC’s Emma Donahue here — but in any event, it’s composed of several judges, so it’s possible some of them wanted a harsher punishment and were outvoted.

Given the confidentiality surrounding the complaint process, it’s hard to imagine that Pryor will respond with anything substantive.

At the same time, the very fact that a letter like this was delivered is important.

The scandal initially broke in May, and since then, only a handful of groups and individuals — Fix the Court, the Legal Accountability Project, law professors Arthur Hellman and Josh Blackman — have seemed interested in ensuring that it wouldn’t simply melt away. Though FTC did not work directly on the letter, we are pleased to see that our efforts, along with the others mentioned above, not to let this issue die have paid off.

Disappointingly, though, the letter was signed by only Republicans: Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, Courts Subcommittee Chairman Darrell Issa and Ga.-14 Rep. Clay Fuller. Democrats have no reason to sit this one out and protect Judge Ross.

In the end, we believe impeachment is warranted. (A push for her resignation would also be okay, too.) And we remain concerned that some fervor on the right to impeach judges who’ve ruled against the President is undermining this more reasoned impeachment effort.

But bottom line: kudos to Jordan, Issa and Fuller for using their constitutional authority to dig deeper here.