President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he intends to pick Joshua Kindred, a former oil industry attorney, as a new U.S. District Court judge for Alaska.
Kindred works as a lawyer in Anchorage for the U.S. Department of Interior. Before that, he was regulatory and legal affairs manager for the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, an industry group that sometimes participates in lawsuits to defend oil development in federal court.
Kindred has also worked as a state prosecutor. He’s married to Tali Birch Kindred, who unsuccessfully applied to fill an open state Senate seat in August, following the death of her father, Chris Birch, who held the seat previously.
Kindred’s nomination must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. A previous Trump nominee for an Alaska judgeship, Jon Katchen, withdrew his name last year before he was confirmed.
