Former Judge Alex Kozinski today posted online a personal remembrance of Stephen Reinhardt, his longtime friend and adversary on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, who died March 29.

“He left a hole in my life, and that of many others, and he left a large hole in our legal system which, with his passing, has become colder, less caring, less passionate, less human,” Kozinski wrote on the Concurring Opinions blog. “The loss is likely to be permanent because, even if there were another Reinhardt out there willing to serve as a federal judge, no president would nominate him and the Senate would certainly never confirm him. We are all the worse for it.”