Minnesota Federal Bankruptcy Judge To Resign Amid Misconduct Allegations

This is the biggest judicial accountability story since Joshua Kindred resigned in scandal last year, but the federal courts would prefer you not know about it.

Less than a year after former Alaska federal judge Joshua Kindred resigned, after the Ninth Circuit Judicial Council found that Kindred sexually harassed his law clerks and created a hostile work environment, another federal judge is resigning amid misconduct allegations, likely to evade accountability. That’s because, under current law and judiciary policy, once a judge steps down, any investigation into their alleged misconduct ceases.

This situation underscores - yet again - much larger issues in the federal courts: a lack of guardrails, accountability, meaningful discipline, and transparency.

Workplace harassment is always wrong. But it’s particularly reprehensible when committed by federal judges — the most powerful members of the federal government — who abuse their power, ruling on issues of national significance, including harassment cases, while themselves not subject to the laws they interpret.

And it’s despicable for the federal judiciary to continue claiming they promote an exemplary workplace, while routinely shielding abusive judges from scrutiny and accountability. Right now, throughout our justice system, there is no justice for judiciary employees. 

Congress can - and must - change that. Because for every judge who resigns, once in a blue moon, dozens do not.