Image via digatone.
Moo. Snip from 9th Circuit’s chief judge posted sexually explicit materials on his website (fyi, Kozinski was appointed by Reagan but is a huge free speech advocate, and only people who knew the subdirectory could see his over-18 stash about which which he remarked, “People send me stuff like this all the time”. Like the whole fucking world of the rest of us.):
One of the highest-ranking federal judges in the United States, who is currently presiding over an obscenity trial in Los Angeles (ed: thanks for this link, Cyrus!), has maintained his own publicly accessible website featuring sexually explicit photos and videos.
Alex Kozinski, chief judge of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, acknowledged in an interview with The Times that he had posted the materials, which included a photo of 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. Some of the material was inappropriate, he conceded, although he defended other sexually explicit content as “funny.”
(…) The sexually explicit material on Kozinski’s site earlier this week was extensive, 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.
Kozinski, who was named chief judge of the 9th Circuit last year, is considered a judicial conservative on most issues. He was appointed to the federal bench by then-President Ronald Reagan in 1985. He has a national reputation for a brilliant legal mind and has developed a reputation as a champion of the First Amendment right to freedom of speech and expression. Several years ago, for example, after learning that appeals court administrators had placed filters on computers that denied access to pornography and other materials, Kozinski led a successful effort to have the filters removed.
The judge said it was strictly by chance that he wound up presiding over the Issacs trial in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. Appeals court judges occasionally hear criminal cases when they have free time on their calendars and the Isaacs case was one of two he was given, the judge said.
Kozinski said he didn’t think any of the material he posted on his website would qualify as obscene.
“Is it prurient? I don’t know what to tell you,” he said. “I think it’s odd and interesting. It’s part of life.” (…) (…read more. Thanks, counsel!)
Update 06.13.08: Wired updates us with Judge in Obscenity Case Calls for Investigation of Himself, and 10 Zen Monkeys has the porn, in Here Comes The Judge’s Porn!
I think it is interesting when you post news items like this, but I think you are missing out on two big essay/story ideas here:
(1) Why is it that people feel the need to share photos like these? Without being critical, I have to say I don’t buy Kozinski’s statement that he thinks it’s “odd and interesting… a part of life…” His friends/family who want to see photos of skin-tight panties on women’s crotches can look this up easily themselves… I can understand people who want to put their whole lives online, but others? I do it myself, though I’m not sure what the appeal is. I don’t go back to the material, and I don’t get a thrill out of posting it.
(2) What’s the future of being “outed” in your professional role? A lot of professional licensing organizations have statements of purpose/ethics that include language to the effect of being of “good moral character.” What recourse do you have if it becomes public knowledge that you produce amateur movies or something, and a busybody wants to have you thrown out?
Big deal. Let the man jerk to his toon ladies in peace. I don’t recall seeing anywhere that it’s illegal to view adult material? where this stands anyway.
Meanwhile, more people are being raped, killed, abused left-right. *sigh
Too bad this will take him off the Supreme Court nominating list. Still, its probably appropriate that he recused himself and let someone else handle the case.