By Tim Waggoner

LOS ANGELES, CA, June 16, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The chief judge of a U.S. circuit court of appeals, which has been described by American Family Association founder Don Wildmon as “the most liberal court in the country”, has just been caught operating a website containing explicit sexual content, while presiding over an obscenity trial.

Alex Kozinski, chief judge of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, suspended for 48 hours a trial he was presiding over after the prosecutor petitioned for time to investigate “a potential conflict of interest concerning the court having aâEUR¦sexually explicit website with similar material to what is on trial here.”

The trial was investigating filmmaker Ira Isaacs for having allegedly distributed videos depicting illegal sexual acts.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, the judge, who has been mentioned as a potential candidate for the U.S. Supreme Court, admitted to being responsible for much of the explicit content on his website and described the pictures as “funny,” “odd,” “interesting” and “a part of life.”

The site featured photographs of a sexually aroused animal being “cavorted” with by a half-naked man, nude women painted as cows, as well as many other photos and videos too graphic to describe.

Aside from the photograph of the women painted as cows, and one other explicit pictorial, about which Kozinski said, “I would not keep those files intentionally,” the judge said he did not feel the contents of his site could be described as “obscene”.

After admitting to the Times on Tuesday that he was responsible for the majority of the photographs on the site, Kozinski later back-peddled in a separate Wednesday interview, alleging that his adult son had contributed a significant amount of content to the site.

The Los Angeles Times also reported there being potentially pirated music on the website, which could violate civil copyright laws, given the fact that three Circuit Court judges ruled in a previous case that “the owner of a collection of works who makes them available to the public may be deemed to have distributed copies of the works.”

Justice Kozinski claims that he did not know his website could be accessed by the public.

Several prominent American politicians and professionals said they are shocked by these findings.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, released a statement that said, “If this is true, this is unacceptable behavior for a federal court judge.”

New York University law professor Stephen Gillers, a long time friend of Kozinski, who once called him “a treasure of the federal judiciary,” said Kozinski is “seriously negligent” for having allowed the website to come into the public light.

“The phrase ‘sober as a judge’ resonates with the American public,” Gillers said. “We don’t want them to reveal their private selves publicly. This is going to upset a lot of peopleâEUR¦and harm his reputation in many quarters.”

Gillers also said that if Kozinski’s website is deemed as operating for the purpose of sharing pornographic content, “It would be very hard for him to come back from that.”

“That’s a transgression of another order,” he added.

Others have suggested that this type of corruption is more prevalent in “high places” than the public realizes and question how one involved in such depraved material can make decisions affecting millions of citizens.

“The top echelon of leaders in this nation have this sort of sewage running through their mind, how could they possibly make decisions on what is right and what is wrong,” asked AFA colleague Jeff Chamblee.

Jan LaRue, former chief counsel for Concerned Women for America, released a statement in which she not only reiterated this concern, but also called for the resignation of Kozinski.

“But, here we have it once again. Someone in a high place that falters terribly in his duties to uphold the law. Rule or exception? I think it is commonplace though often much less public.”

“No wonder we have such a difficult time rolling back the tide of pornography in our culture. Christians faltering in droves and those in high places displaying pornography too disgusting to describe calling it ‘funny’,” commented LaRue.

She also expressed her concerns about the damaging effects of the internet’s most profitable industry.

“If pornography is not effectively fought off it degrades, desensitizes, addicts, destroys. It does all of these and so much more – little by little by little until you are utterly destroyed from within and without,” warned LaRue.

The Ninth Circuit Court has a history of support for the culture of death, as demonstrated by several other rulings by the court covered by LifeSiteNews.com.

US Court Rules it’s OK to Censor the Terms ‘Natural Family,’ ‘Marriage’ and ‘Family Values’
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/mar/07030805.html

U.S. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE RULED UNCONSTITUTIONAL
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2002/jun/02062704.html

Activist Judge Rules Palmdale Parents have no Say in Sex Ed in Schools
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/nov/05110305.html

According To Some Federal Courts And Public Schools: Christianity Out, Islam In
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/oct/06101004.html