An Alaskan attorney, appointed by former President Donald Trump to a lifetime federal judgeship in 2020, has been disbarred following a scandal involving sexual harassment and misconduct. The attorney, Joshua Kindred, resigned to avoid potential impeachment and now faces the loss of his law license. To be considered for reinstatement in the future, Kindred has been ordered to complete ethics courses.

On Friday, the Alaska Supreme Court endorsed the conclusions of the Disciplinary Board, officially disbarring Kindred from practicing law. The court’s decision is effective immediately, requiring Kindred to complete at least 15 credit hours of continuing legal education focused on ethics, law office management, and the management of law office accounts, should he wish to seek reinstatement.

According to a report by Law&Crime in July 2024, Kindred resigned after a Judicial Council panel from the Ninth Circuit published its findings. The panel’s report was based on a Special Committee’s investigation into claims that Kindred fostered a hostile work environment for his law clerks through unwanted and abusive behavior.

The panel detailed misconduct involving an “inappropriately sexualized relationship” with a law clerk during and shortly after her clerkship, as she later served as an Assistant United States Attorney in Alaska. Additionally, the panel found that Kindred was untruthful about having had two sexual encounters with a law clerk—one occurring in his chambers and another at an Airbnb.

In addition, the panel concluded he “lied” about not having “two sexual encounters” with a law clerk, one in his chambers and another at an Airbnb.

Texts were part of Kindred’s undoing.

“Didn’t imagine your exit interview would involve that much oral,” Kindred was quoted as saying, with the former clerk replying “*argument,” as in oral argument.

But under questioning about the texts, Kindred said “I’ve not seen [this law clerk] naked, so that doesn’t make any sense to me,” the report said.

The investigative body also found that Kindred “made inappropriate comments about sex, drinking, and drugs” in the workplace, telling law clerks “Who gives a f— about ethics, we need to get you paid,” joking about “punching multiple Supreme Court justices,” and talking about his divorce.

The Special Committee also made a finding that Kindred, while a judge, “failed to disclose potential conflicts of interests when he had inappropriate interaction and relationships with two attorneys who often appeared before him.”

When he was grilled about his behavior, a judicial misconduct report said, Kindred “admitted that he was overwhelmed with his job and would often discuss this with the law clerk,” whom he said was “often the only person I would interact with face to face” after the COVID-19 pandemic exploded.

Before Kindred’s confirmation to the bench, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, supported him as “well-qualified” and having “good judgment,” based on his educational history, his legal work in the public and private sector, the family he was raising, and the “good family” he married into.