About a decade later, Kavanaugh would have become aware of another incident involving the judge. In 2001, Kozinski and another judge purposely sabotaged an internet security system that had been put in place after a review of the court’s use of bandwidth found that judges were downloading pornography at work. In one sample size, it amounted to nearly 4% of sites visited and in some cases involved imagery of sexual abuse.
According to a 2007 letter written by the former head of the administrative office of the courts to judge Ralph Winter, who chaired a judicial conduct committee, when he “sabotaged” the computer system Kozinski opened the door for hackers to break into US court records. He did so, Ralph Mecham wrote in his letter recounting the events, in order to defend “the unfettered ability of all judges and court employees to illegally download pornography and view it in federal courts”.
In 2008, the Los Angeles Times reported that Kozinski regularly distributed raunchy and offensive jokes to former clerks, judges and journalists, among others, in an infamous email list. Kavanaugh has testified under oath that he cannot remember if he had ever received such emails.
In 2015, Kavanaugh appeared with Kozinski on a panel to discuss clerkships. At the event, which was recorded on video, Kozinski jokingly teased that “being a judge means never having to say you’re sorry”, eliciting laughter from the male judges on the panel.
1 comment