The federal judicial council has not yet taken action against former California-based U.S. Appeals Court Judge Alex Kozinski, eight weeks after it received a sexual harassment complaint against him. On Monday, the council said it was dismissing the complaint since Kozinski had stepped down in December.
It further noted that no investigation has been conducted and that a ruling was not being reached on the merits of the complaint. However, it acknowledges the seriousness of the charges.
“We recognize that the complaint references grave allegations of inappropriate misconduct, which the federal judiciary cannot tolerate,” the judicial council of the 2nd Circuit wrote.
When Kozinski retired in December of last year, the matter was dropped. The Washington Post reported that same month that six former clerks or junior staffers accused Kozinski of subjecting them to inappropriate sexual conduct or comments. Later on, other women as well came forward with accusations.
According to the CNN, Kozinski’s lawyer declined to comment on the matter. However, when he announced his resignation in December, the 67-year-old Kozinski said, “I’ve always had a broad sense of humor and a candid way of speaking to both male and female law clerks alike. In doing so, I may not have been mindful enough of the special challenges and pressures that women face in the workplace. It grieves me to learn that I caused any of my clerks to feel uncomfortable; this was never my intent.”
A CNN report said that it is a common practice among judges accused of sexual misconduct to leave the bench, thus avoiding any investigation against them. It also found that only a handful of the thousands of complaints filed against judges are looked into, while judges are almost never suspended or subjected to disciplinary measures.
Arthur Hellman, a professor of law, said that Kozinski’s case is unlikely to be taken up by any congressional committee as members of Congress have no reason to look into an individual’s conduct. However, he pointed out that it would be wise for lawmakers to look more broadly at judicial sexual harassment and other misconduct.
Kozinski was subjected to a separate disciplinary action in 2009 following a Los Angeles Times report that he was maintaining a publicly accessible website of sexually explicit images. He publicly apologized and took the server offline and was later admonished by a judicial council, which concluded that no further discipline was necessary.
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