A federal judge in Alaska has resigned following allegations that he had an “inappropriate sexual relationship” with one of his law clerks.
U.S. District Judge Joshua M. Kindred said: Resignation letter On July 3rd, without any explanation, they said it would come into effect on July 8th. Judicial conduct review Kindred, who was released from prison on Monday, is accused of creating a hostile work environment while he was a clerk and then carrying on an inappropriate relationship with one of his staff members shortly after he became an assistant U.S. attorney.
The Judicial Council, which oversees the case, has asked Kindred to voluntarily resign while the U.S. Judicial Conference continues to investigate the situation.
A special committee was appointed to investigate the allegations in February 2023. The committee submitted a 1,144-page report earlier this year after reviewing hundreds of text messages and interviewing witnesses, including Kindred and his subordinates.
The committee detailed an “unusually intimate relationship” between Kindred and the law clerk, describing two sexual encounters as occurring in October 2022. The committee also reviewed approximately 300 pages of text messages exchanged between the pair over an 11-month period.
According to the report, after Kindred left his clerkship and started a new job as an assistant U.S. attorney, he met with the former clerk for drinks, then took her upstairs to his room and kissed her, and they had a second sexual encounter a few days later in a temporary apartment, the report said.
“I remember thinking, there’s nothing I can do about this, this is going to happen at any moment,” the clerk told investigators about the second incident.
According to the report, Kindred initially lied about his relationship with the law clerk, saying there was “never any sexual contact.” [the law clerk].”
“Only when questioned under oath at the Judicial Council meeting on April 5, 2024 did he admit to knowingly lying to the Select Committee,” the report states.
The judicial misconduct complaint said Kindred “engaged in unwelcome, offensive and abusive conduct and created a hostile work environment for the law clerks by treating them in an obviously hostile manner.”
The commission also alleged that the judge regularly engaged in conversations with judicial staff about his private life that included “sexualized” conversations. The commission found that the judge “had no qualms about using inappropriate language in professional settings,” including saying he was not “sexually indifferent,” sharing inappropriate stories about sexual acts, and sharing his sexual preferences.
The investigation noted that in his response to the report, Kindred said he “failed to maintain appropriate boundaries and crossed lines that should not have been crossed, particularly in relation to my general tendency to treat employees as friends and to make my personal and professional struggles the topic of conversation.”
Kindred was nominated by former President Trump in 2019 to replace U.S. District Judge Ralph R. Beistlein and was subsequently confirmed by the Senate in 2020.
Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, said she was working to select a candidate to replace Kindred.
“It is only appropriate that Mr. Kindred tender his resignation, pursuant to the order and certification of the Ninth Circuit Judicial Council,” she said. It said in a statement“Judges must be held to the highest standards, and Kindred has fallen far below those standards. I will work expeditiously to consider a replacement.”
