Ethics Experts Ask: Could Ga. Judge’s Affair, Lying Warrant Impeachment Inquiry?

“Aliza Shatzman, President and Founder of The Legal Accountability Project, noted that in 2024, the Judicial Conference referred former U.S. District Judge Josh Kindred of the District of Alaska for potential impeachment after he resigned over inappropriate sexual encounters with his law clerk. Shatzman said another avenue exists for punishing the judge too: disbarment by a state bar. She noted that the Alaska Supreme Court in 2025 disbarred Kindred following his resignation, after state bar regulators made the recommendation.

‘That is separate from the judiciary and separate from Congress,’ Shatzman said.

Shatzman also noted that Ross—while not named in the judicial council order—was quickly identified on social media. ‘I imagine, frankly, it's going to make it harder for her to continue being a federal judge, which is right,’ Shatzman said.

‘The public can't have confidence that the judiciary is a fair and neutral adjudicator of disputes when the judges hold themselves to no standards. What are the next litigants going to think when they appear before this judge?’”