Trump-appointed Alaska judge resigns in disgrace after sexual misconduct probe; faces impeachment

A US judicial panel stated on Monday (July 9) that a federal judge in Alaska who unexpectedly quit last week had an improper sexual relationship with a law clerk and established a hostile work environment for his staff.

US District Judge Joshua Kindred, a Trump White House appointment, resigned from his life-tenured position on Wednesday after taking the bench in 2020, drawing public reprimand from the Ninth Circuit Judicial Council.

In an order dated May 23, and made public on Monday, the council said that it had asked for him to step down. It also mentioned that the case was sent to the highest federal judiciary authority for certification, which could lead Congress to consider the unusual impeachment of a federal judge.

The top US circuit judge, Mary Murguia, stated in a statement that "the judiciary is entrusted to self-govern and, in doing so, must hold its federal judges to the highest standards of integrity and impartiality."

According to the 30-page ruling from the nine-member panel, he confessed before the council that his "great sin here was the fact that during this period I treated my law clerks as friends rather than employees."

The decision stated that an inquiry discovered that Kindred created a hostile work environment for his clerks by routinely using improper language and discussing his sex life, their relationships, and his "disparaging" opinions of colleagues and public personalities.

Kindred had an "unusually close relationship" with one of the clerks, an investigation committee found out. Kindred asked her out for drinks, kissed her, and grabbed her buttocks only one week after she began working in a prosecutor's office.

Days later, the clerk reported to the committee that the judge had requested her to come to his apartment, wanted her to lie down on a bed with him, and had even engaged in oral sex with her.

According to the judicial council, Kindred later lied to the investigating committee, denying having had sexual contact with the clerk.

(With inputs from agencies)