Panel Takes No Action Against Judge Kozinski for E-mailing Crude Jokes

Alex Kozinski, the chief judge of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, won’t be sanctioned for e-mailing crude jokes.

The Judicial Council of the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said its investigation has concluded, and it is taking no action, the Los Angeles Times reports. The opinion released Tuesday said Kozinski has apologized for any embarrassment to the federal judiciary and he has stopped e-mailing the jokes.

The Times says the jokes “ranged from silly to politically oriented to raunchy.” Kozinski’s distribution list had included federal and state judges, prominent lawyers, civil rights leaders and nationally known journalists, according to earlier reports.

The council also dismissed a complaint that alleged Kozinski and two other judges had disabled the court’s porn-screening system. The opinion said the complaint had been investigated in 2001 and there was no finding of wrongdoing.

In July, the 3rd Circuit Judicial Council admonished Kozinski for keeping sexually explicit materials on a personal website that was available to those who knew how to search for it on the Internet.

Additional coverage:

Legal Pad: "Kozinski Escaping Discipline Over Smut"