By Nate Raymond
(Reuters) – The federal judiciary’s high policymaking physique has made a referral to the U.S. Home of Representatives for lawmakers to think about doubtlessly impeaching a now-former federal decide in Alaska who resigned after being accused of sexual misconduct.
A spokesperson for Republican Home Speaker Mike Johnson on Thursday stated he had obtained a letter containing a notification from the U.S. Judicial Convention of potential grounds for former U.S. District Decide Joshua Kindred’s impeachment.
The referral was a rarity for the Judicial Convention, which Chief U.S. Supreme Courtroom Justice John Roberts heads. It final made such a referral in 2015. Solely 15 judges have ever been impeached, and solely eight have been convicted by the Senate.
It was unclear what the Home would do with the referral. Whereas Kindred is not in workplace, he might be barred from holding any federal workplace sooner or later if he was impeached within the Home and convicted within the Democratic-led Senate.
Kindred couldn’t be reached for remark.
Kindred, who was appointed to the bench by Republican former President Donald Trump in 2020, resigned in July after a judicial misconduct inquiry discovered he fostered an inappropriate sexualized relationship with one among his regulation clerks and created a hostile work setting for court docket workers.
The ninth Circuit Judicial Council’s inquiry discovered that he went on to have two sexual encounters with the clerk in October 2022 after she took a brand new job within the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace in Alaska, which he later lied about.
The inquiry discovered that Kindred additionally used crude language along with his regulation clerks and mentioned with them his intercourse life, their relationships and his “disparaging” views of colleagues and public figures.
The judicial council reprimanded Kindred and requested for his voluntary resignation. The council had additionally licensed the matter for the Judicial Convention to think about referring Kindred for potential impeachment.
The Judicial Convention’s Committee on Judicial Conduct and Incapacity final month upheld the ninth Circuit’s choice, saying it had ordered “acceptable” remedial measures in response to the “seriousness of the misconduct.”