Court of Appeals judge resigns over sex reports
Court employees filed more than a dozen reports of misconduct
LOS ANGELES — Alex Kozinski, a prominent voice on the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, said Monday he was retiring immediately in the face of more than a dozen reports of sexual misconduct.
Kozinski, who served more than three decades on the appeals court, faced allegations that he showed clerks pornography, improperly touched women and kept a chart of his college sexual conquests. The brash, outspoken judge was a strong presence on the court. He espoused quirky positions and a sense of humor that delighted some but that in the end he said contributed to his downfall.
The Washington Post first reported the vast majority of allegations against the judge and news of his retirement. Kozinski confirmed he was leaving the bench in a text message to the Times.
He said in a prepared statement that he was retiring because he could no longer be an effective judge. Two of his four law clerks resigned last week as reports of his misbehavior escalated on the Internet.
The 9th Circuit last week called for an investigation into the reports, but it had not yet begun.
Federal judges have lifetime terms and can be removed only by Congress, but the court system can sanction them and try to pressure them to resign.
“I cannot be an effective judge and simultaneously fight this battle,” Kozinski said in a statement distributed by the 9th Circuit. “Nor would such a battle be good for my beloved federal judiciary.”
Though known as a conservative, the Reagan appointee considered himself more a libertarian. He railed against prosecutorial misconduct and wrote a searing indictment of the criminal justice system for a law journal.
He held popular movie nights at courthouses, serving pizza, salad and drinks and showing films that often related to the law. The public was invited as well as court staff.
The Post first reported that a former clerk complained that Kozinski showed her pornography and asked whether it turned her on. She said it did not, and he said it did nothing for him either.
On Friday, the allegations moved from improper conversations to groping. A former law student said he touched her breast and a law professor said he pinched her and touched her leg.
Kozinski was born in Romania, and at age 12 he moved to the United States with his parents, who were Holocaust survivors.
He also apologized for having offended people: “I’ve always had a broad sense of humor and a candid way of speaking to both male and female law clerks alike.
“In doing so, I may not have been mindful enough of the special challenges and pressures that women face in the workplace. It grieves me to learn that I caused any of my clerks to feel uncomfortable; this was never my intent. For this I sincerely apologize.”