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3rd Circuit Panel Dismisses Claims Against Kozinski for Sexually Explicit Material
The Legal Intelligencer
July 02, 2009
9th Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski
Image: Jason Doiy / The Recorder
The judicial misconduct complaint against 9th Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski has been resolved with a public admonishment but no discipline imposed on the judge for the sexually explicit material found on his family Web site.
A specially appointed 11-judge panel from the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a unanimous 41-page opinion that said Kozinski "explained and admitted his error; apologized for it, recognizing its impact on the judiciary; and committed to changing his conduct to avoid any recurrence of the error."
Writing for the 3rd Circuit Judicial Council, Chief Judge Anthony J. Scirica said the panel had dismissed claims against Kozinski relating to his assignment to handle an obscenity trial and his later his recusal from that case when news broke about the material on his Web site.
Scirica said the investigation showed that Kozinski had not requested the case, but was assigned to handle it by the Central District of California, and that Kozinski had apologized for the disruption his recusal caused.
No judicial discipline was called for, Scirica said, because "a judge's recusal decision is merits-related and, as such, is not a subject for determination under judicial misconduct rules."
Check back with Law.com later today as this story develops.
