Federal Appeals Judge Alex Kozinski Accused Of Sexual Harassment

Lord Coke

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update Judge Kozinski has retired
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-judge-alex-kozinski-20171218-story.html


This is turning into a witch hunt. I am begining to wonder how many of these women are just trying to get attention at this point. Sure some of this sounds bad but a lot of things taken out of context look bad. Think about some of the stuff you've said here in the war room about immigrants or Muslims. In other setting that stuff might be wildly inappropriate. By analogy Konzinski might have had a flirty relationship with these clerks and now that the relationship has soured something that at the time was okay is being taken out of contest. i think the real lesson here is do not give people especially women control over you by given them potential ammunition. We as men need to start doing a better job protecting ourselves. Every called Mike Pence crazy a few months back for not eating with women other than his wife. Well Mike Pence is looking like a genius right now.



https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo...ge-alex-kozinski-accused-of-sexual-harassment

Six women have accused a federal appeals court judge of sexual misconduct, according to the Washington Post.Alex Kozinski serves on the Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit and was formerly that court's chief judge.

Heidi Bond, who clerked for Kozinski in 2006 and 2007, said he called her into his office and showed her pornography on his computer. He asked her if she thought the images were "photoshopped." He asked her if they turned her on.

Bond, who now authors romance novels under the name Courtney Milan, wrote on her website that such incidents happened at least three times. She wrote that he also showed her a chart he made in college showing all the women he had had sex with and telling her not to tell any of the other clerks about it. She wrote about the incidents: "When this happened, I felt like a prey animal—as if I had to make myself small. If I did, if I never admitted to having any emotions at all, I would get through it."

A woman named Emily Murphy, who clerked for a different judge on the 9th circuit, told the Washington Post of an incident when she was having a conversation about exercise with some other clerks. Kozinski interrupted to say that she should work out naked. According to Murphy and two others who were present, she tried to switch the subject without success.

Murphy told the Post, "It wasn't just clear that he was imagining me naked, he was trying to invite other people — my professional colleagues — to do so as well."

In a statement to the Post, Kozinski said, "I have been a judge for 35 years and during that time have had over 500 employees in my chambers. I treat all of my employees as family and workvery closely with most of them. I would never intentionally do anything to offend anyone and it is regrettable that a handful have been offended by something I may have said or done."

In 2008, the Los Angeles Times reported that Kozinski had an email list that he used to distribute rude jokes, some of which were sexually explicit. The paper also reported that he had a publicly accessible website that contained pornography.

An investigation determined that he had not intended for the public to be able to access that website and that Kozinski's "conduct exhibiting poor judgement with respect to this material created a public controversy that can reasonably be seen as having resulted in embarrassment to the federal judiciary."

Kozinski, 67, has previously dealt with the issue of sexual harassment in his role as a judge. In 1991, he joined an opinion that said cases should be decided from the point of view of the victim, using the "reasonable woman" standard. The Post quotes Kozinski's writings about sexual harassment in 1992 in which he said that men "must be aware of the boundaries of propriety and learn to stay well within them." Women, he wrote, "must be vigilant of their rights, but must also have some forgiveness for human foibles: misplaced humor, misunderstanding or just plain stupidity."
 
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Most of what I am seeing these people accused of is very minor stuff.

I mean it is one thing if we are talking about repeated grope'ings, that doesn't seem to be what we are talking about here.
 
I was initially inclined to bite back at your "witch hunt" comment considering this is a federal judge with very little political capital, celebrity, or political vulnerability.

But then I read the comments from the women in the OP. Yeah, that is going a bit far imo.

EDIT: Oh, god, Legal Bluebook cited a blog post.
 
This is turning into a witch hunt. I am begining to wonder how many of these women are just trying to get attention at this point. Sure some of this sounds bad but a lot of things taken out of context look bad. Think about some of the stuff you've said here in the war room about immigrants or Muslims. In other setting that stuff might be wildly inappropriate. By analogy Konzinski might have had a flirty relationship with these clerks and now that the relationship has soured something that at the time was okay is being taken out of contest. i think the real lesson here is do not give people especially women control over you by given them potential ammunition. We as men need to start doing a better job protecting ourselves. Every called Mike Pence crazy a few months back for not eating with women other than his wife. Well Mike Pence is looking like a genius right now.



https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo...ge-alex-kozinski-accused-of-sexual-harassment

Six women have accused a federal appeals court judge of sexual misconduct, according to the Washington Post.Alex Kozinski serves on the Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit and was formerly that court's chief judge.

Heidi Bond, who clerked for Kozinski in 2006 and 2007, said he called her into his office and showed her pornography on his computer. He asked her if she thought the images were "photoshopped." He asked her if they turned her on.

Bond, who now authors romance novels under the name Courtney Milan, wrote on her website that such incidents happened at least three times. She wrote that he also showed her a chart he made in college showing all the women he had had sex with and telling her not to tell any of the other clerks about it. She wrote about the incidents: "When this happened, I felt like a prey animal—as if I had to make myself small. If I did, if I never admitted to having any emotions at all, I would get through it."

A woman named Emily Murphy, who clerked for a different judge on the 9th circuit, told the Washington Post of an incident when she was having a conversation about exercise with some other clerks. Kozinski interrupted to say that she should work out naked. According to Murphy and two others who were present, she tried to switch the subject without success.

Murphy told the Post, "It wasn't just clear that he was imagining me naked, he was trying to invite other people — my professional colleagues — to do so as well."

In a statement to the Post, Kozinski said, "I have been a judge for 35 years and during that time have had over 500 employees in my chambers. I treat all of my employees as family and workvery closely with most of them. I would never intentionally do anything to offend anyone and it is regrettable that a handful have been offended by something I may have said or done."

In 2008, the Los Angeles Times reported that Kozinski had an email list that he used to distribute rude jokes, some of which were sexually explicit. The paper also reported that he had a publicly accessible website that contained pornography.

An investigation determined that he had not intended for the public to be able to access that website and that Kozinski's "conduct exhibiting poor judgement with respect to this material created a public controversy that can reasonably be seen as having resulted in embarrassment to the federal judiciary."

Kozinski, 67, has previously dealt with the issue of sexual harassment in his role as a judge. In 1991, he joined an opinion that said cases should be decided from the point of view of the victim, using the "reasonable woman" standard. The Post quotes Kozinski's writings about sexual harassment in 1992 in which he said that men "must be aware of the boundaries of propriety and learn to stay well within them." Women, he wrote, "must be vigilant of their rights, but must also have some forgiveness for human foibles: misplaced humor, misunderstanding or just plain stupidity."
It's been a witch hunt. I foretold this. I warned where this would be headed in early October when everybody was on the anti-Weinstein #metoo bandwagon.
 
Or don't be a scumbag who shows porn to anybody at your workplace let alone subordinates when you're a highly respected and ranking official.

Don't talk about you co-worker exercising naked and encourage others to do so. That is workplace sexual harassment. In the past that would be a HR visit and some training courses - but we're talking about elected officials and very powerful people who absolutely should know better doing this because they think they can.

This guy likely did this for years and got away with it but he's finally getting called on his shit.
 
Folks want to downplay stuff like this ore try to role reversal it and say "If my female boss called me in to look at porn I wouldn't care" or "If there was a casting couch I'd gladly succumb for a promotion" but what if it wasn't a female boss. What if you boss was homosexual and was calling you into his office to show you gay porn to see your reaction, or talked about imaging you exercising naked or always pestering you for dates and claiming he knew you really were gay too and liked him. Or offered you a promotion to fellate him?

If your reaction is anything other than "I wouldn't care, I'd just tell him no and keep working there" or "I'd quit and just get another job" than your reaction is what these woman are feeling. They can't "fill the room with uppercuts" or "threaten to kick his ass" to make him stop.

Or put your mother or sister or daughter into these workplaces and harassment situations you think is a witchhunt now.
 
Or don't be a scumbag who shows porn to anybody at your workplace let alone subordinates when you're a highly respected and ranking official.

Don't talk about you co-worker exercising naked and encourage others to do so. That is workplace sexual harassment. In the past that would be a HR visit and some training courses - but we're talking about elected officials and very powerful people who absolutely should know better doing this because they think they can.

This guy likely did this for years and got away with it but he's finally getting called on his shit.

A lot of these people are working largely alone for years. There only support system are the people they work with.
If you are working 80- hour a week and think you can trust someone then you talk to them like you are their friend.
 
It's been a witch hunt. I foretold this. I warned where this would be headed in early October when everybody was on the anti-Weinstein #metoo bandwagon.
Big difference between Weinstein and somebody feeling uncomfortable 20-30 years ago, the fact that definitions to actual sexual assaults are being blended with someone feeling small is going cause more problem than it could posiably help. And yeah everyone saw this coming
When people start getting fired for twenty year old hugs and kisses were all fucked.
 
Kozinski has long been infamous for this kind of thing. It’s not a secret.

He is brutal on his clerks in every way.
 
Loving every minute of this. What started as an attempt to rig the election for Hillary by the mainstream media has turned into a firestorm engulfing mostly left wingers.
 
Loving every minute of this. What started as an attempt to rig the election for Hillary by the mainstream media has turned into a firestorm engulfing mostly left wingers.
And out of left field comes this line of thinking.
 
Ah, come on if you show someone porn during work hours in your office you should be fucking fired.
Especially when you are a judge. Because you are obviously not good at judging situations.
 
Read the main accusers personal account.

I would be ashamed to admit I was this thin skinned.

http://www.courtneymilan.com/metoo/kozinski.html

"I remember pointing out how the couch didn’t compress where the naked people were supposedly sitting, how the shadows weren’t right compared to the clothed party-goers. I tried to stay as factual as possible.

“Does this kind of thing turn you on?” he asked."

It's not a question of being thin-skinned, it's a question of why a young woman should be subjected to this kind of thing while alone with a senior judge who is her direct boss.

It's completely inappropriate. It's also discriminatory IMO, since it puts her into a bind.

Do I think he should lose his job over it? No, I'm against the rituals of prosecution and sacrifice that everybody is so fond of nowadays. But he should probably be at least reprimanded, particularly since Kozinski has long been notorious for abusing his clerks. I was discussing this with some other lawyers a few weeks ago, ironically.

Again, what she says -- that he should have at least had other clerks there -- is exactly right. If you have common sense, there are ways to raise sexual matters in discussion that are much less problematic than getting your young female clerk in a room with you and showing them porn on a computer.
 
Big difference between Weinstein and somebody feeling uncomfortable 20-30 years ago, the fact that definitions to actual sexual assaults are being blended with someone feeling small is going cause more problem than it could posiably help. And yeah everyone saw this coming
When people start getting fired for twenty year old hugs and kisses were all fucked.
No, almost nobody saw this coming. Go read the threads in October. Virtually nobody saw this coming.
 
Or don't be a scumbag who shows porn to anybody at your workplace let alone subordinates when you're a highly respected and ranking official.

Don't talk about you co-worker exercising naked and encourage others to do so. That is workplace sexual harassment. In the past that would be a HR visit and some training courses - but we're talking about elected officials and very powerful people who absolutely should know better doing this because they think they can.

This guy likely did this for years and got away with it but he's finally getting called on his shit.

I've never done any of the things you said.

That doesn't mean I expect anyone else not to.

If you didn't touch/push/throw this woman down, it's not rape.

At best it's 'saying something other people don't agree with'
 
I've never done any of the things you said.

That doesn't mean I expect anyone else not to.

If you didn't touch/push/throw this woman down, it's not rape.

At best it's 'saying something other people don't agree with'
He's not being accused of rape though, he's being accused of sexual harassment and this definitely counts. Its not that he should go to jail but he should definitely be reprimanded.
 
A lot of these people are working largely alone for years. There only support system are the people they work with.
If you are working 80- hour a week and think you can trust someone then you talk to them like you are their friend.
I've worked in chambers, and have friends who have worked in chambers. Being friendly or even friends with a judge is normal. The behavior described isn't.

I even have a friend who watched porn with her judge. But that was as part of a case, and the judge was careful not to make it any more uncomfortable than it was going to be. And, like Zankou noted, Kozinski doesn't have a reputation for being a friend to his clerks. The folks I knew who were looking at that level of clerkship were warned about him (not about sexual harassment, just about his chambers being unpleasant for most people).

Also, I don't ask my friends to watch porn with me and then grill them about it.

I don't think impeachment is appropriate, but I wouldn't cry about a reprimand from the judicial council either, especially after that weaselly apology letter.
 
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And Cory booker calls for Trump to resign.....who could have seen that coming, sacrifice a few for the team
 
So how do they expect us to determine if our porn is shooped if we can’t get outside opinions?!
 
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