The Senate questions Alaska's nominee for a long-empty federal judgeship

Alaska's federal trial court has been short a judge since 2022, and the Senate Judiciary Committee questioned the nominee for that seat, Anchorage magistrate judge Kyle Reardon, on Wednesday.

"The District of Alaska has not been fully constituted as a court since 2022, so we are pleased to be able to fill this remaining vacancy," Sen. Lisa Murkowski said, introducing him. The seat opened when Judge Joshua Kindred resigned in July 2024 amid misconduct findings, leaving the court with two active district judges instead of three.

The vacancy has real consequences in a state where a quarter of residents live off the road system. Prolonged judicial vacancies swell caseloads and can leave civil litigants waiting years, the Federal Bar Association says, and Alaska has carried this one longer than most.

Reardon spent six years as an Army lawyer and 15 as a federal prosecutor, including seven in Alaska, and has been a magistrate judge since 2021. Murkowski said he has handled more than 3,000 criminal and nearly 500 civil matters, many of the criminal ones involving child sexual abuse material or sex trafficking.

Reardon described the judge's role in modest terms, calling judges umpires who "don't make the law" and saying the branches of government should each stay "within its lane."

The hearing had friction. Asked about diversity by Sen. Mazie Hirono, Reardon said courts should hire "the best and the brightest" and that diversity "will take care of itself"; Hirono said she didn't think that reflected reality. And Sen. Richard Blumenthal said he would oppose the panel's nominees over their refusal to say who won the 2020 popular vote or to call the Jan. 6 Capitol riot an attack.

Written questions for the nominee are due Sept. 23.