Judge Kozinski Accused Of Sexual Misconduct
Six former Ninth Circuit clerks and externs say Judge Alex Kozinski subjected them to sexual comments and unwelcome situations.
Judge Kozinski
The movement sweeping through the country aiming to hold powerful men accountable for sexual harassment and assault has named a prominent jurist as a serial harasser. The Washington Post spoke with six former Ninth Circuit clerks and externs — two on the record — that say Judge Alex Kozinski subjected them to sexual comments and unwelcome situations.
Perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that a federal judge finds himself accused of sexual harassment. After all, inappropriate workplace harassment became part of the national consciousness in 1991 when Anita Hill came forward during the confirmation hearing of now Justice Clarence Thomas with her own #metoo story before it was a hashtag.
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A former Kozinski clerk, Heidi Bond, alleges that on multiple occasions the judge summoned her to his chambers, alone, and showed her pornography — unrelated to any case before the judge. He then asked if the images turned her on.
Heidi Bond, who clerked for Kozinski from 2006 to 2007, said the porn was not related to any case. One set of images she remembered was of college-age students at a party where “some people were inexplicably naked while everyone else was clothed.” Another was a sort of digital flip book that allowed users to mix and match heads, torsos and legs to create an image of a naked woman.
Bond recounts at least three instances of being shown porn by her boss and says of the experience:
“I was in a state of emotional shock, and what I really wanted to do was be as small as possible and make as few movements as possible and to say as little as possible to get out,” Bond said.
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Bond has also written a disturbing first-person account of her experience of clerking for Judge Kozinski, which you really should read in its entirety. There Bond also details Kozinski isolating her from her co-clerks to discuss his sexual history, and how that incident impacted her ability to work for the judge:
I was also alone the day he showed me what he called his knock chart. It was a typed piece of paper listing all the girls that he and his friends had banged while they were in college, tracking their conquests.
“Don’t tell your co-clerks about this,” he said. “It’s not something I want them to know about.”
I don’t remember everything he told me. I do remember him talking about how terrible the focus on STDs today was, because nobody was willing to just fuck anymore.
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.
Despite my best efforts, I continued to have emotions. Why was I alone? What was the purpose of not having the other clerks around? Most prevalent of all was this worry: Was it going to escalate? What could I do if it did?
The worry took its toll. I began waking from sleep, heart racing, hearing imaginary double beeps summoning me to his office. I started not being able to sleep at all. By the time I left the clerkship, there were nights I would lie in bed and watch the darkened ceiling until I had to get up and go back to work.
Another passage in Bond’s account stuck out because — not to put too fine a point on it, some of the controlling behavior Bond alleges Kozinski engaged in reads like textbook abusive behavior:
As an example, one day, my judge found out I had been reading romance novels over my dinner break. He called me (he was in San Francisco for hearings; I had stayed in the office in Pasadena) when one of my co-clerks idly mentioned it to him as an amusing aside. Romance novels, he said, were a terrible addiction, like drugs, and something like porn for women, and he didn’t want me to read them any more. He told me he wanted me to promise to never read them again.
“But it’s on my dinner break,” I protested.
He laid down the law—I was not to read them anymore. “I control what you read,” he said, “what you write, when you eat. You don’t sleep if I say so. You don’t shit unless I say so. Do you understand?”
There was nothing to say but this: “Yes, Judge.”
That’s… messed up. Certainly clerks and other high profile legal jobs are known to be demanding but it is quite another thing to dictate how an employee spends the meager time away from the office that they have.
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Others have spoken to the Washington Post about their stories of the judge’s behavior. Emily Murphy, who clerked for Judge Richard Paez, was with a group of other Ninth Circuit clerks discussing gym regimens. Murphy said she liked to use the courthouse gym because other people rarely used it. Kozinski allegedly took that innocent comment as an invitation to objectify Murphy:
Kozinski, according to Murphy and two others present at the time who spoke to The Post, said that if that were the case, she should work out naked. Those in the group tried to change the subject, Murphy and the others present said, but Kozinski kept steering the conversation toward the idea of Murphy exercising without clothes.
“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,” Murphy said. “That was what was humiliating about it.”
The stories of those who spoke to the Washington Post anonymously also detail the judge’s penchant for showing employees porn and work and otherwise sexualizing them:
A former Kozinski extern said the judge once made a comment about her hair and looked her body up and down “in a less-than-professional way.” That extern said Kozinski also once talked with her about a female judge stripping.
“I didn’t want to be alone with him,” the former extern said.
A different former extern said she, similarly, had at least two conversations “that had sexual overtones directed at me,” and she told friends about them at the time. One of the friends, also a former extern, confirmed that the woman had told her about the remarks — though both declined to detail them for fear of being identified.
The Washington Post also has a statement from Judge Kozinski about the allegations:
In a statement, 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 work very 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.”
NOPE. Reality check — you don’t share porn with your family members and ask them if it arouses them. You don’t have to be smart enough to be the chief judge of the 9th Circuit to know that is extra inappropriate at work.
And that non-apology has to take the cake. See how he undermines the experiences of the women who have spoken both on and off the record about Judge Kozinski’s harassing behavior by pointing out the hundreds of clerks and externs that he presumes have fond recollections of working for him? Instead of listening to the allegations and taking responsibility for his actions his statement seeks to deflect from the accusations and problematizes his clerks’ reactions instead of his own behavior.
In case you thought the judge might have been clumsy in his (non)apology but were willing to see the best of intentions in his words, well you’re going to be disappointed. Kozinski doubles down with additional comments to the Los Angeles Times, saying he doesn’t “remember ever showing pornographic material to my clerks,” and eschewing all personal responsibility:
Kozinski said he was unaware of any formal complaint against him and noted that he has employed 120 clerks and 400 externs over the years.
“If this is all they are able to dredge up after 35 years, I am not too worried,” he said in a telephone interview.
What exactly is this comment meant to do? It seems like an invitation for more #metoo stories about the judge.
Kathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).
