Pizza and a movie behind court’s door
The evening tour of the James R. Browning Federal Courthouse was packed Sept. 20, mostly with giddy lawyers and wide-eyed law students. While public tours happen all the time at the home of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, this one was special. Our tour was part of U.S. Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski’s invite-only quarterly “KFF” movie night, “Kozinski’s Favorite Flicks.”
“Are you a lawyer?” several guests asked me as we were led through the courthouse’s beautiful courtrooms and private offices. Sturdy heels clicked on the inlaid tile floor and hands gently grazed the building’s impressive marble columns. There was much networking going on. I heard numerous mentions of Yale and Boalt law schools, and at least two small groups from San Francisco’s own Hastings Law School were in attendance. For ambitious legal minds, it was an exciting perk to hang out with Kozinski after hours.
The judge is rather famous for his strong stances on issues like the death penalty. For example, in a ruling regarding the postponement of a 2014 Arizona execution, Kozinski argued that while the execution should continue, the process of lethal injection hides the brutality of the act. “If we, as a society, cannot stomach the splatter from an execution carried out by firing squad,” he said, “then we shouldn’t be carrying out executions at all.”
A Romanian-born son of Holocaust survivors, Kozinski was appointed to the Ninth Circuit in 1985, at just 35, by President Ronald Reagan. His passion for film was spawned by a childhood in Los Angeles, and “KFF” began as a way to introduce co-workers to some of his favorite cinematic classics. Movie nights, held both in San Francisco and at his home base at Pasadena’s Richard H. Chambers federal courthouse, are open only to those on Kozinski’s coveted email invite list — mainly as a security measure.
While we took our tour, Kozinski was busy readying one of the courtrooms (and a couple of overflow conference rooms) for his 7 p.m. screening of “The Lincoln Lawyer,” a 2011 legal thriller based on a book by Michael Connelly. The author himself was in attendance. In fact, the cool Connelly tagged along on the courthouse tour like everyone else.
“KFF” attendees were asked to pitch in $10 for pizza, beer, wine and soft drinks, and Kozinski’s longtime administrative assistant, Donna Salter, prepared her famous Donna’s Salad, a hearty and delicious chopped blend of just about every possible salad ingredient. Small paper cups of fun-size candy were placed throughout the courtroom, and guests balanced plates of pizza on their laps while the 6-year-old Matthew McConaughey movie flickered on a pull-down screen.
The event would have felt more like a slumber party were it not for the rather surreal venue. Just a few months ago, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals shut down President Trump’s so-called Muslim ban, and that night, I spilled pizza sauce on its rug.
“Thank you for coming,” Kozinski said, facing the courtroom in slacks and a dress shirt, looking like any other guy who just got off of work. To Kozinski’s right, Connelly greeted fans, many of whom (myself included) watch his “Bosch” series on Amazon. Nearby, the two salty lawyers on whom McConaughey’s character is based enjoyed Salter’s salad.
Kozinski offered shout-outs to the groups from Hastings and acknowledged any VIPs in the room. For the uninitiated, he explained the point of “KFF.” “We have such a wonderful facility,” Kozinski said, motioning around the Art Deco courtroom, with its walls covered in cork and two gilded Indiana Jones-esque eagles gazing down, “we should share it.
“I have the chance to meet you all in an informal basis and show a little bit of the human side of what our court is like.”
And then we watched “The Lincoln Lawyer” all the way through with the lights completely out and no talking. Once the movie ended, nearly everyone stuck around for a question-and-answer session with Kozinski and Connelly, followed by a raffle for a series of posters scattered throughout the courtroom. Blown-up photos of our host and guest of honor were included in the offerings.
I finally left the courthouse around 10 p.m. and continued to marvel at the architecture on my way out. I clicked my heels on that beautiful tile and ran my hand along the cold marble — leaving nary a trace of pizza sauce behind.
Movie nights are open only to those on Judge Alex Kozinski’s coveted email invite list — mainly as a security measure.