Judge Alex Kozinski (born July 23, 1950) is the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and a popular essayist.

Youth, education and early career

Kozinski was born 1950 in Bucharest, Romania but his parents, both Holocaust survivors, brought him to America in 1962 when he was 12. They settled in Los Feliz, Los Angeles and his father, Moses, ran a small grocery store there.

Kozinski attended John Marshall High School and then the University of California, Los Angeles. He received his A.B. in economics from UCLA in 1972 and the J.D. from UCLA School of Law in 1975; he went on to clerk for then-Ninth Circuit Judge Anthony Kennedy and Chief Justice Warren Burger. Then he spent the years from 1977 to 1981 in private practice in California and Washington D.C. In 1980, Kozinski was working as deputy legal counsel for the Office of the President-Elect before going to serve as a counsel in the White House under President Ronald Reagan in 1981. [1]

Judicial career

Kozinski's first judicial appointment was as chief judge at the newly-formed United States Court of Federal Claims in 1982. In 1985, age 35, Kozinski was appointed to a new seat at the Ninth Circuit by Reagan, making him the youngest federal appeals court judge in the country. Defending the court against criticism because of a controversial decision, Kozinski went on record emphasizing the independence of the judges: "It seems to me that this is what makes this country truly great -- that we can have a judiciary where the person who appoints you doesn't own you." [2]. He also took a stand against the charge that the Ninth Court is overly liberal, which led some to call it "The Notorious Ninth": "And yet I can say with some confidence that cries that the 9th Circuit is so liberal are just simply misplaced."

Judge Kozinski's understanding of his role shows in this statement: "If you, as a judge, find yourself too happy with the result in a case, stop and think, Is that result justified by the law, fairly and honestly applied to the facts? Or is it merely a bit of self-indulgence?"

Cases

One of the most controversial cases that Judge Kozinski had a role in was the murder case of Thomas Martin Thompson. Thompson had been convicted by a prosecution that relied heavily on the testimony of his jail inmates, and there were doubts in the efficiency of his defense that even led seven former California prosecutors into filing briefs on Thompson's behalf. Four days before the scheduled execution, the Ninth voted 7 to 4 to give Thompson a new trial on the grounds of procedural misunderstandings. Kozinski dissented, disagreeing that there had been a formal error and stating: "If the en banc call is missed for whatever reason, the error can be corrected in a future case where the problem again manifests itself....That this is a capital case does not change the calculus. The stakes are higher in a death case, to be sure, but the stakes for a particular litigant play no legitimate role in the en banc process." This opinion, that correct proceedings were more important than preventing a judicial error that would result in an execution, was vehemently opposed by his old friend Judge Reinhardt, who called it "bizarre and horrifying" and "unworthy of any jurist." [3] The Ninth Circuit's judgment was reversed on appeal by the Supreme Court, which called the Ninth Circuit's action "a grave abuse of discretion." Calderon v. Thompson, 523 U.S. 538, 542 (1998)..

Another of Kozinski's highest-profile cases to date was the lawsuit filed by Mattel against the Danish pop-dance group Aqua for "turning Barbie into a sex object" in their song "Barbie Girl." Kozinski opened the case with "If this were a sci-fi melodrama, it might be called Speech-Zilla meets Trademark Kong" and famously concluded his opinion with the words: "The parties are advised to chill." Mattel, Inc. v. MCA Records, Inc., 296 F.3d 894, 908 (9th Cir. 2002).

In Fair Housing Council of San Fernando Valley v. Roommates.com, LLC, No. 04-56916, slip op. 5709, 5713 n.1, Kozinski, alluding to Andy Warhol's famous quip, referred to "Andy Warhol's prediction that everyone would eventually enjoy a trillion or so nanoseconds of fame." A trillion nanoseconds equates to 16 minutes and 40 seconds.

Essayist

Kozinski has won admirers across the political spectrum who praise what many admirers feel to be "common sense" decisions and his libertarian instinct. As an essayist, his writing is clear and often humorous, and has been featured in mainstream publications such as Slate, The New Yorker, The New Republic and National Review. He also has a reputation as an active and sometimes intimidating questioner during oral argument. Because English is not his native language, he speaks with a strong accent which is often surprising to lawyers who are familiar only with his distinctive writing style.

Trivia

• When he was much younger, Kozinski appeared on The Dating Game and won. [4] (Apparently the female contestant, Rita, could not resist Kozinski's greeting of "Good afternoon, flower of my heart.")
• In 2004, Judge Kozinski was elected the Number 1 Male Superhottie of the federal judiciary by a vote held by the weblog "Underneath Their Robes".
• Fresh out of law school, Kozinski was given a traffic ticket which gave the wrong court date. Kozinski challenged the ticket in court (Kozinski v. Gates) before Judge William Matthew Byrne of the Central District of California, and won. Three decades later, Kozinski's son fell victim to a similarly absurd procedure, also took the County to court (Kozinski v. Baca & Chavez), and appeared before the same Judge, who ruled for the son in the same manner as he had for the father. As a consequence of these two actions, traffic tickets must give accurate and current dates for court appearances, and automatic bail is no longer required for traffic tickets in Los Angeles County. [5]

References

• Bazelon, Emily. "The Big Kozinski". LegalAffairs, January-February 2004. Retrieved on April 30, 2006.
• Federal Judicial Center. "Kozinski, Alex". Retrieved on April 30, 2006
• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). "Controversial Court". Retrieved on April 30, 2006.

External links

• The Unofficial Judge Alex Kozinski Site: Comprehensive source for writings, press mentions, and more.
• List of articles by Kozinski (up to date as of March 30, 2006)
• Campaign contributions made by Judge Alex Kozinski
• Interview with Alex Kozinski and Stephen Reinhardt
• NY Times: Judge Kozinski's 'Nomination Letter' to the Judicial Hottie contest.
• LA Times: The 9th Circuit's New No. 1