A Trump-appointed federal judge was forced to resign this month after just four years on the bench and a blistering ethics complaint detailed his hostile work environment and sexual misconduct with a law clerk and federal prosecutor.
Judge Joshua Kindred, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska, abruptly moved to step down last week. At the time, he did not give a reason.
On Monday, however, the Judicial Council of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit released a report going into extensive detail on the allegations against Kindred, and announced that he was pressured into resigning under referral to the Judicial Conference to consider impeachment.
According to the report, Kindred created a hostile work environment by incessantly "discuss[ing] his past dating life, his romantic preferences, his sex life, the law clerks’ boyfriends and dating lives, his divorce, his interest in and communications with potential romantic or sexual partners, and his disparaging opinions of his colleagues. He also made disparaging comments about public and political figures. Some examples of these comments include: 'I was a huge hit at dinner Partly due to how much s--- I talked about Sarah Palin'; 'I told a republican [state] senator to eat a d---'; and '[a senator] is worried that I can kick [] his a--.'"
He also rated people based on "f---ability" in the presence of subordinates, and retaliated against clerks who came forward to say they were uncomfortable with his behavior.
Perhaps most damning, the report detailed how he pursued an "inappropriately sexualized relationship" with a law clerk who later went on to become an assistant U.S. attorney.
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According to the report, Kindred incessantly messaged the clerk, including while she was on medical leave, saying "that he missed her and 'it feels like I haven’t seen you in months'; asking how things were going with the clerk’s boyfriend; and stating that '[w]ork is so much better when you are here.' Similarly, in July 2022, when Judge Kindred was traveling for a conference, he texted the law clerk incessantly, saying, 'I’ve missed you this week which makes me worry about the emotion[al] wreck I’m going to be when you leave.'"
Furthermore, the clerk told investigators that one night, when Kindred was driving her home, he stopped over at the courthouse, brought her up to his chambers, and kissed her and groped her buttocks. Then in October 2022, she said, during a pizza party she threw for him to celebrate his move, he lured her into a bedroom, pulled her pants off, and performed oral sex on her. The committee further found that Kindred's account of these events, which differed from the clerk's, was dishonest.
"Given these facts, we have no doubt that Judge Kindred, through his false statements, obstructed, influenced, and impeded these JC&D proceedings, or at the very least, attempted to obstruct, influence, or impede these proceedings," stated the Judicial Committee's report. "The false statements that Judge Kindred has made throughout these proceedings, along with the severity of Judge Kindred’s misconduct, may constitute one or more grounds for impeachment."
