9th Circuit Court Chief Judge Kozinski's Porn Site and Legal Justice

Civil Rights Attorney asks Reno Bishop Asked To Head Up Kozinski Porn Review Committee.

Kozinski didn't act fast enough to prevent Internet users from recording the images on his public porn site.

(SALEM, Ore.) - The L.A. Times reported the most interesting story three years ago, about a porn site owned and operated by Alex Kozinski, the chief judge of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. At the time, Kozinski was presiding over an obscenity trial in Los Angeles.

Judge Alex Kozinski

He would later claim that he believed his publicly accessible Web site featuring sexually explicit photos and videos was for his private storage and claimed he was not aware the images could be seen by the public, though he admitted he shared some material on the site with "friends".

The 57-year old judge did acknowledge in an interview with the LA Times, that he had posted the materials including, "a photo of a naked women on all fours painted to look like cows and a video of a half-dressed man cavorting with a sexually aroused farm animal".

Kozinski admitted that "some" of the material was inappropriate, but defended other sexually explicit content as "funny."

Randolph Calvo

That was June 2009, and more than three years later Kozinski is still one of the region's most important judges. Network CEO Phil Stimac is asking Randolph Calvo, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Reno to meet with himself and Reno Mayor Bob Cashell. The purpose of the meeting, Stimac said is to "consider a citizen’s committee to review the effects immoral attitudes and behavior patterns of local judges is having on our community".

Reno Mayor Bob Cashell

"On May 23rd," Stimac added, "I posted two articles on this blog expressing my disapproval of Judge Kozinski’s porn site.* Less than three weeks later he dismissed six complaints of judicial misconduct arising solely from his personal ill will for me without any investigation. It seems very revealing that Judge Kozinski also called my contentions 'bizarre' and lacking a 'shred' of evidence".

"In addition to issues related to Judge Kozinski’s porn site, my six complaints provided evidence he and other federal judges stole and deleted documents from court files to cover up judicial corruption. One of my clients was Ronald Roland who served on a county grand jury. Mr. Roland’s son was framed to retaliate against his father’s noble attempts to expose police and prosecutorial corruption George Kennedy Papers. Judges in that case dismantled the entire grand jury then turned on me".

Phil Stimac

Stimac explains how another of his clients was a grassroots group of senior and disabled teachers called The American Teachers Legal Defense Fund. In an attempt to recover stolen court documents, he sued Judge Kozinski’s friend and mentor Judge John Clifford Wallace under the federal RICO statute 1 - 2. 

"I was then notified I was being disbarred for being disrespectful to court personnel. U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy has intercepted and tampered with evidence I asked her to present to the federal grand jury".

Chief Judge Robert Jones

He says the Hon. Robert Jones, Chief Judge of the federal court in Reno recently ruled that he, the judge, and not the federal grand jury, has the right to weigh and act upon evidence of criminal wrongdoing by Kozinski and other federal judges in Reno, San Francisco, San Diego, Portland and Washington, D.C.

"These kinds of bogus rulings are rooted in unhealthy states of mind. I am only a federal civil rights lawyer and will defer to folks with a broader range of experiences like Bishop Calvo and Mayor Cashell. Perhaps mental health professionals may wish to serve on the committee and offer their opinion as to the effects the long-term viewing of pornographic images can have on one’s mental health and thought process".

Kozinski, who took the site into a private status at the time, just over three years ago, was appointed to the federal bench by then-President Ronald Reagan in 1985.

He was named chief judge of the 9th Circuit last year, and is considered a judicial conservative on most issues. His Website according to the LA Times, was then programmed to display:

Ain't nothin' here.

Y'all best be movin' on, compadre.

It is still there...

The judge reasoned that he must have accidentally uploaded those images to his server while intending to upload something else.

One can only wonder what level of patience this man has shown in his life for people who 'accidentally' broke the law. Particularly those who took a file they had installed on their computer, and actually moved it online, 'accidentally'.

"> Kozinski and UCLA law prof Eugene Volokh. Courtesy: abovethelaw.com

New York University law professor Stephen Gillers specializes in legal ethics. He had words of praise for Kozinski, but also told the LA Times that Kozinski was “seriously negligent” in allowing it to be discovered.

"The phrase ‘sober as a judge’ resonates with the American public," Gillers said. "We don’t want them to reveal their private selves publicly. This is going to upset a lot of people."

The chief irony was that Kozinski was trying Ira Isaacs, an LA filmmaker accused of distributing criminally obscene sexual-fetish videos depicting bestiality and defecation.

The sexually explicit material on Kozinski's site was extensive, according to the Times:

including images of masturbation, public sex and contortionist sex. There was a slide show striptease featuring a transsexual, and a folder that contained a series of photos of women's crotches as seen through snug fitting clothing or underwear. There were also themes of defecation and urination, though they are not presented in a sexual context.

"I would not keep those files intentionally," Kozinski said, adding that out that he never used appeals court computers to maintain the site.

Stimac says the real victims of this growing problem are the poor and powerless – "the kind of people Christ sought out to teach and empower." He also believes it is time for the church and other officials to take a stand while also calling attention to what he says is clearly illegal judicial conduct.

*The Hon. Alex Kozinski clerked for and was mentored by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy before rising to become Chief Judge of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Sources:

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

Reno Bishop Asked To Head Up Kozinski Porn Review Committee - The Elite Ones

Judge Kozinski on Sexually Explicit Material He Posted: “It’s part of life.” - Wall St. Journal

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Tim King: Salem-News.com Editor and Writer Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines. Tim holds awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing, including the Silver Spoke Award by the National Coalition of Motorcyclists (2011), Excellence in Journalism Award by the Oregon Confederation of Motorcycle Clubs (2010), Oregon AP Award for Spot News Photographer of the Year (2004), First-place Electronic Media Award in Spot News, Las Vegas, (1998), Oregon AP Cooperation Award (1991); and several others including the 2005 Red Cross Good Neighborhood Award for reporting. Tim has several years of experience in network affiliate news TV stations, having worked as a reporter and photographer at NBC, ABC and FOX stations in Arizona, Nevada and Oregon. Tim was a member of the National Press Photographer's Association for several years and is a current member of the Orange County Press Club. Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website. As News Editor, Tim among other things, is responsible for publishing the original content of 82 Salem-News.com writers. He reminds viewers that emails are easily missed and urges those trying to reach him, to please send a second email if the first goes unanswered. You can write to Tim at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com