Senate Judiciary Committee votes 16-6 to advance Kyle Reardon for Alaska federal bench

Alaska's federal trial court moved a step closer to a full bench Tuesday, when the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 16-6 to send Anchorage magistrate judge Kyle Reardon's nomination to the full Senate.

If confirmed, Reardon would fill the last open seat on the U.S. District Court for Alaska. The court has three judgeships and hasn't had three active judges since late 2021. "The District of Alaska has not been fully constituted as a court since 2022," Sen. Lisa Murkowski said in introducing him at his Sept. 16 hearing.

Four Democrats, including the committee's ranking member, Dick Durbin of Illinois, joined all 12 Republicans in voting for Reardon. The others were Amy Klobuchar, Chris Coons and Mazie Hirono. The committee advanced three other district court nominees, from Kentucky and Texas, on 12-10 party-line votes.

The seat Reardon would fill has been empty since July 2024. That's when Judge Joshua Kindred resigned after the Judicial Council of the Ninth Circuit found he had created a hostile work environment for his law clerks and lied to investigators. The court's other open seat, left when Judge Timothy Burgess took senior status in late 2021, wasn't filled until Aaron Peterson was confirmed in February. For 19 months, from Kindred's resignation until Peterson arrived, Chief Judge Sharon Gleason was the state's only active district judge, with senior judges carrying part of the load.

Reardon has been a magistrate judge in Anchorage since 2021 and the court's chief magistrate judge since September 2025. Before that, he spent six years as an Army judge advocate and 15 as a federal prosecutor, seven of them in Alaska. Murkowski said he has handled more than 3,000 criminal and nearly 500 civil matters as a magistrate judge.

His nomination now goes to the full Senate, where Republicans have weeks left in the majority. Democrats won control of the Senate in last week's election and take over in January.

Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said Democrats have made clear they plan to block President Trump's judicial nominees once they're in charge. "I'm going to work hard to get judges confirmed quickly during the lame duck session while we still have time," he said in Tuesday's meeting.

Durbin said the committee had shortened its timelines in the past only with the minority's consent. "The decision is being made unilaterally without request for our consent," he said. He accused Republicans of rushing Texas nominees through before Sen.-elect James Talarico, a Democrat, takes office Jan. 3. Under a Judiciary Committee practice known as the blue slip, home-state senators can approve or disapprove district court nominees.