6 women accuse appeals judge of sex misconduct

A former clerk for Judge Alex Kozinski said the powerful and wellknown jurist, who for many years served as chief judge on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, called her into his office several times and pulled up pornography on his computer, asking if she thought it was photoshopped or if it aroused her sexually.

Heidi Bond, who clerked for Kozinski from 2006 to 2007, said the porn was not related to any case. One set of images she remembered was of college-age students at a party where “some people were inexplicably naked while everyone else was clothed.” Another was a sort of digital flip book that allowed users to mix and match heads, torsos and legs to create an image of a naked woman.

Bond is one of six women — all former clerks or externs in the 9th Circuit — who alleged to the Washington Post in recent weeks that Kozinski, now 67 and still serving as a judge on the court, subjected them to a range of inappropriate sexual conduct or comments. She is one of two former clerks who said Kozinski asked them to view porn in his chambers.

In a statement, Kozinski said: “I have been a judge for 35 years and during that time have had over 500 employees in my chambers. I treat all of my employees as family and work very closely with most of them. I would never intentionally do anything to offend anyone and it is regrettable that a handful have been offended by something I may have said or done.”

Bond and another clerk, Emily Murphy, who worked for a different judge on the 9th Circuit, described their experiences in on-the-record interviews. The four other women spoke on the condition that their names and some other identifying information not be published out of fear that they might face retaliation.

Murphy said Kozinski approached her when she was talking with clerks at a reception in 2012. The group had been discussing training regimens, and Murphy said she commented that the gym in the 9th Circuit courthouse was nice because other people were seldom there. Kozinski, according to Murphy and two others present, said that if that were the case, she should work out naked.

“It wasn’t just clear that he was imagining me naked, he was trying to invite other people — my professional colleagues — to do so as well,” Murphy said. “That was what was humiliating about it.”

Kozinski was appointed to the 9th Circuit, based in San Francisco, by President Ronald Reagan in 1985.