The Chief Judge of the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals was acting as a federal trial judge this week in an obscenity trial in LA, that is, until the trial was suspended while the USA's office checks out reports of the Judge having what is best described as "bizarre" sexually explicit film clips and photos on his own website.

Here's the link to the LA Times article:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-kozinski12-2008jun12,0,6220192.story

And some more information from the WSJ. It's interesting to note that initially the Judge took full responsibility for the content of his personal website, then as the furor began developing over some of the sexually explicit content, the Judge claims his adult son Yale called him and stated that he (the son) had actually uploaded some of the objectionable content.

Like Father, like son?

Here's the WSJ stuff:

Judge Kozinski on Sexually Explicit Material He Posted:
Posted by Dan Slater
UPDATE: We connected recently with Cathy Catterson, a spokeswoman for the Ninth Circuit. She sent along the following statement:


With regard to the article in today's Los Angeles Times, the computer server is maintained by one of the judge's sons. It is not government property. All family members use it. Pictures, documents, other items of personal and family interest are stored on it. After the story broke, one of the judge's sons contacted him to say he had uploaded much of the items referenced in the story. The server and its contents are a private matter. It was not meant to be accessible by others and the judge had no idea it was. Had he known, he would have been more careful of its contents.

The L.A. Times is reporting that Alex Kozinski, chief judge of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, who is currently presiding over an obscenity trial in Los Angeles, has maintained a publicly accessible Web site featuring sexually explicit photos and videos.

For the rest of the article, click on this link:

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2008/06/11/report-judge-alex-kozinski-maintained-porn-on-personal-web-site/

[This message was edited by Shannon Edmonds on 06-16-08 at .]

Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in California was "careless" and "judicially imprudent" in possessing the material and not safeguarding his files, the panel found. He also failed to fully correct the problem when it was discovered, the judges said.

However, the panel found no need to discipline Kozinski because he recused himself from an obscenity trial underway when news broke last year about the explicit photos and videos available on the Web site alex.kozinski.com.

Details.

[What do you think of the decision?]

[This message was edited by JB on 07-05-09 at .]

I think the summarized holding is that he's punished himself enough.

It was pretty humiliating.