Can Canadian judges have websites/blogs?

Truth To Power

www.accesstoinfo.blogspot.com

Good Day Readers:

It's hard to believe a federal appeals court judge would exercise such bad judgment and then not be removed from the Bench. And to have the story break during an obscenity trial over which he was presiding makes it even more incredible! This time, however, we think we've solved The Public Eye's photographic metaphor it's none other than Alex Kozinski as evidenced by this picture we found during a Google search

After reading the article we wondered whether Canadian judges are permitted to operate websites/blogs? To the best of our knowledge, although we haven't done any research, there are none currently sitting who do. If there are hopefully they'll exercise much better judgment than that shown by "Judge" Kozinski and use them to help educate the public about the law.

Sincerely,
Clare L. Pieuk
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06 July 2009
United States Federal Appeals Court Judge Alex Kozinski
Judge Alex Kozinski rebuked for explicit postings
by Bob Egelko
As originally published: San Francisco Chronicle
July 3, 2009

The chief judge of the federal appeals court in San Francisco was rebuked but not formally disciplined by a judicial panel Thursday for posting sexually explicit material on his private Web site and failing to remove it when he learned it was publicly accessible.

Alex Kozinski was careless and showed "poor judgment" in possessing offensive material and failing to keep it private, said the 11-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia.

In a decision that it labeled an admonishment, the panel told Kozinski that his conduct "created a public controversy that can reasonably be seen as having resulted in embarrassment to the institution of the federal judiciary."But the panel said it saw no need to punish Kozinski because he has now removed the postings from his Web site and promised to install safeguards. The panel also noted that Kozinski requested the investigation himself, cooperated fully and apologized profusely."My unfortunate carelessness ... has embarrassed the federal courts. And for this, I am deeply sorry," Kozinski said in testimony to the panel.

Had it found misconduct, the panel could have censured Kozinski, temporarily halted his case assignments, or taken the first steps leading to possible congressional impeachment and removal from office. But the panel made no such findings, said Arthur Hellman, a University of Pittsburgh law professor and authority on judicial ethics.

Attorney Cyrus Sanai, who found the computer images in 2007 and accused Kozinski of unethical conduct, called the decision a "complete whitewash."

Kozinski could not be reached for comment.

Kozinski, 58, was appointed to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals by President Ronald Reagan in 1985 and began a seven-year term as chief judge in December 2007 by virtue of seniority. The court is the nation's largest appellate circuit and hears appeals from federal courts in California and eight other Western states.

The Los Angeles Times disclosed some of the contents of his now-disabled Web site in June 2008. They included images of masturbation, a slide-show striptease and two naked women on all fours painted as cows.

Kozinski immediately removed himself from an obscenity trial in Los Angeles over which he was then presiding. He told The Chronicle at the time that the site was used by family members to store various photos and documents. He said he wasn't sure whether he had intentionally stored any sexually explicit images and hadn't known that anyone else had access.

But the court panel said Kozinski learned in fall 2007 that Internet users could find the site in a Web search. He moved three sexually explicit files to a secure folder but took no further steps to review and remove problematic files until the Times article appeared, the panel said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. E-mail Bob Egelko at begelko@sfchronicle.com.