Alex Kozinski

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Alex Kozinski bigraphy, stories - American judge

Alex Kozinski : biography

July 23, 1950 –

Alex Kozinski (born July 23, 1950) is Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, an essayist, and a judicial commentator.David A. Golden (1992), , Brigham Young University Law Review: 513.

Biography

Kozinski was born in Bucharest, Romania. In 1962, when he was 12, his parents, both Holocaust survivors, brought him to the United States. The family settled in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, where his father, Moses, ran a small grocery store. Kozinski, who had grown up as a committed communist in Bucharest, became what he described as "an instant capitalist" when he took his first trip outside of the Iron Curtain, to Vienna, Austria, where he partook of such luxuries as chewing gum and bananas.

Kozinski graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, receiving an A.B. degree in 1972, and from the UCLA School of Law, receiving a J.D. degree in 1975. Kozinski clerked for future Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Ninth Circuit from 1975 to 1976, and then for Chief Justice Warren Burger from 1976 to 1977. From June 5, 1981 to August 1982, Kozinski served as the first U.S. Special Counsel appointed by President Ronald Reagan.

Judicial career

In 1982, Kozinski was appointed chief judge at the newly formed United States Court of Federal Claims. In 1985, at the age of 35, Kozinski was appointed to a new seat at the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit by President Reagan, making him the youngest federal appeals court judge at the time of appointment. Defending the court against criticism because of a controversial decision, Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow, Kozinski went on record emphasizing judicial independence: "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." He also took a stand against the charge that the Ninth Circuit is overly liberal, which led some to call it "The Notorious Ninth": "I can say with some confidence that cries that the Ninth Circuit is so liberal are just simply misplaced."Michaels, Spencer (January 17, 2005). NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. On November 30, 2007, Kozinski was appointed the tenth chief judge of the Ninth Circuit., United States Courts for the Ninth Circuit Public Information Office news release, November 23, 2007.

In 2008, according to The Los Angeles Times, Kozinski "maintained a publicly accessible website featuring sexually explicit photos and videos." In response, Kozinski called for an ethics investigation of himself. In July 2009, Kozinski was admonished by a panel headed by Judge Anthony Scirica.

Notable cases

Thompson v. Calderon

Thomas Martin Thompson had been convicted based largely on the testimony of his fellow inmates, and doubts about the effectiveness of his defense counsel led seven former California prosecutors to file briefs on Thompson’s behalf. The Ninth Circuit originally denied Thompson’s habeas petition attacking the state court decision. Two days before Thompson’s scheduled execution, the Ninth Circuit en banc reversed (7-4) the earlier denial.

Kozinski dissented: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. Kozinski’s opinion was criticized by Judge Steven Reinhardt, who called it "bizarre and horrifying" and "unworthy of any jurist."Bazelon, Emily. . LegalAffairs, January–February 2004. Retrieved on April 30, 2006. The en banc decision was reversed by the Supreme Court, which called the Ninth Circuit’s action "a grave abuse of discretion."

White v. Samsung Electronics America, Inc.