Prosecutors Seek Recusal of Entire 9th Circuit in Porn Appeal

Prosecutors are seeking the recusal of every judge on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a pornography appeal because of an ethics investigation involving the circuit’s chief judge and his racy website.

Matthew Friedrich, the acting assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s criminal division, was among the prosecutors filing the “notice of potential need for recusal," the Daily Journal reports.

At issue in the appeal is whether adult filmmaker Ira Isaacs can be retried after 9th Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski declared a mistrial in his case. Kozinski acted in June after reports surfaced that he had posted sexually explicit materials on a personal website for family members. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is conducting the ethics investigation.

Kozinski had been randomly selected to preside in Isaacs’ trial. Isaacs contends double jeopardy prevents a retrial.

Prosecutors say in their request that photos on Kozinski’s website "were at least thematically similar” to some of Isaacs’ videos, the Daily Journal story says.