9 more women accuse judge of misconduct
SAN FRANCISCO — Nine more women said a prominent U.S. appeals court judge subjected them to inappropriate sexual conduct or comments, The Washington Post reported Friday.
The latest allegations against Judge Alex Kozinski of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals go back decades and include women who met him at events, according to the newspaper.
The accusations include inappropriate touching and lewd comments.
Leah Litman, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine, told the Post that the judge talked about having just had sex and pinched her side and leg at a restaurant the night before they appeared together on a panel at her school in July.
Christine Miller, a retired U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge, said Kozinski grabbed her breasts during a car ride in 1986 after a legal community function in the Baltimore area.
She said it came after she declined his offer to go to a motel and have sex.
“He said if you won’t sleep with me, I want to touch you, and then he reached over, and — this was the most antiseptic — he grabbed each of my breasts and squeezed them,” Miller told the Post. She said she stared straight ahead, and he soon dropped her off at her home.
A lawyer who was not identified said Kozinski approached her when she was alone at a legal event in Los Angeles in 2008 and kissed her on the lips and gave her a bear hug with no warning.
Kozinski said in a statement through an attorney that many of the things being said about him were not true but he deeply regretted that his “unusual sense of humor caused offense or made anyone uncomfortable.”
The Post reported last week that six former clerks or more junior staff members accused Kozinski of inappropriate behavior, including showing them pornography.
Kozinski, 67, is known for his irreverent opinions, and his clerks often win prestigious clerkships at the U.S. Supreme Court. He was appointed by former President Ronald Reagan.
The 9th Circuit has opened a misconduct inquiry that was transferred Friday to the Judicial Council of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.