9th Circuit's chief judge posted sexually explicit matter on his website

LA Times ^ | 6/11/2008 | Scott Glover

[Lurking Libertarian]

It’s the most Liberal Appeals Court. Why should we be surprised?

As a whole, it is. But not every judge on it is a liberal. Kozinski, a Reagan appointee, is generally considered the leader of the conservative bloc on the 9th Circuit.

[Dead Corpse]

Otra-

Oster-

Either would work, but I'm not big on initiation of force. The former only assumes that he starves to death of his own accord. I'm ok with that...

Curious though, I found at least one article claiming he's a "conservative" judge. Of course, on the 9th Circus this term is relative and meaningless outside of California's boundaries.

[Lurking Libertarian]

Curious though, I found at least one article claiming he's a "conservative" judge. Of course, on the 9th Circus this term is relative and meaningless outside of California's boundaries.

On any court in this country, Kozinski --himself a refugee from communism-- would be considered a conservatve, albeit of the libertarian/Goldwater school rather than the religious/ social conservative school.

[Dead Corpse]

I don’t know the guy from Adam. I do know that the article points out the guys cluelessness on technology. His sense of humor isn’t what I’d call “wholesome” either.

[Lurking Libertarian]

I am not defending what he posted on his website (though, judging from the press descriptions, it seems more crude and tasteless than really obscene or pornographic). I am only responding to people who think he’s not actually a conservative judge; he is.

[isom35]

I’m guessing the judge to the right is female, but hey, ya never know.

[isom35]

Martin, have you seen this thread:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2029394/posts

[grjr21]

The judge pointed out that he never used appeals court computers to maintain the site.

Claims not to have used Government computers

[fr_freak]

I don't care what this guy does in his off time, but on government computers and the open internet, this is indefensible.

Impeach and ostracize.

From the article, the server where the files were kept was not a government computer. It was this judge's own web page, presumably hosted by a private ISP (the article doesn't explicitly state). In other words, this judge was doing this on his off time, and on privately-owned equipment. Furthermore, he did not have links on his website directly to these files, meaning that he obviously didn't intend to have the world see them. He was just too ignorant about how the WWW works to prevent them from seeing it (which is ignorant in itself, given the nature of politics). He simply placed the files in a directory which was set with public permissions.

Does the very possession of these types of files make him unfit for a judgeship? Perhaps. If this standard were applied to all public servants, I would say "Certainly!" However, if this standard is only going to be applied to non-left wing nutjobs, then I say to hell with it, let him stay a judge.

Some lines from the article, that you apparently missed:

"One of the highest-ranking federal judges in the United States, who is currently presiding over an obscenity trial in Los Angeles, has maintained his own publicly accessible website featuring sexually explicit photos and videos."
[This statement is actually very misleading. Later in the article, you find out that these files were not actually on the web page. They were merely in a directory which was accessible (but not easily visible) to the public]

"The judge pointed out that he never used appeals court computers to maintain the site."

Before the site was taken down, visitors to http://alex.kozinski.com were greeted with the message: "Ain't nothin' here. Y'all best be movin' on, compadre."

Only those who knew to type in the name of a subdirectory could see the content on the site, which also included some of Kozinski's essays and legal writings as well as music files and personal photos.

[Americanwolf]

Jezz the ninth circus is at it again....

this is the chief justice...

I would have hoped for higher standards.... or keeping you private proclivities out of public view... what is done behind chamber doors is his business. but when it reaches the public and damages the sanctity of the Judaical bench.... he needs to go...

[Wilhelm Tell]

Does the very possession of these types of files make him unfit for a judgeship? Perhaps. If this standard were applied to all public servants, I would say "Certainly!" However, if this standard is only going to be applied to non-left wing nutjobs, then I say to hell with it, let him stay a judge.

I agree. He understands and supports the Second Amendment. That makes him worth his weight in gold. He would likely be replaced by a Marxist. We need to be a little pragmatic, even cynical. If he is usually on the right side of issues, that should be - almost - all that matters. We should learn that from the left. So on First Amendment issues he will probably always side with the pornographers. That is not good. But replace him with some Marxist judge and the Marxist will support pornographers too but will also seek to ban political or religious speech that is politically incorrect. Do we really want him replaced with a Marxist who would take your guns, burn half your books, send your children to a re-education camp and tax 99% of your income?

[ChicagoHebrew]

Can the mods post this in breaking news? This guy is one of the most liberal judges on the 9th circuit.

False. Kozinski is one of the most conservative judges in the country, and the most conservative judge on the 9th Circuit. His opinions are brilliant and Scalia-esque. He just happens to have some unfortunate choices in personal entertainment (much like Clarence Thomas was rumored to have).

[ChicagoHebrew]

And because of this I am skeptical of this story until there is more information.

Why are you skeptical? Kozinski admits it. Read the story. He's quoted as saying he thought the pictures were "funny."

The guy's a brilliant judge, he's just got some interesting tastes.

[calcowgirl]

Thanks for looking further than the headline. I found his website in google cache but all that was shown was his legal writings... some really great stuff, btw.

I’m wondering if this isn’t an effort by the liberals to take him down, being one of the few (more) conservative justices on the court and only recently having become Chief Justice.

The guy is very colorful—and brilliant. This is a good article:

http://californialawyermagazine.com/story.cfm?eid=892756&evid=1

[Gondring]

Dang Reagan Appointees.

:-(

Isn’t the latest news that his son put the videos there?

[Dead Corpse]

I stand corrected. Thanks...