A few years back Chief Judge Kozinski was busted when the Ninth Circuit did an audit to see what internet traffic the judges and staff were using with what came to light as adult material:
The site, now disabled, included a video showing a sexually aroused animal, a photograph of naked women painted to look like cows and images of masturbation and public sex…
Ouch, busted redhanded and redfaced. Kozinski’s son ran the site and Kozinski may or may not have posted the above mentioned items. The kicker was that Kozinski was presiding over an obscenity appeal in the case of an adult filmmaker (U.S. v. Isaacs) at the time and there was an issue as to whether he should disqualify himself from the case. The ever-gracious judge asked an ethics panel to investigate his conduct and encouraged Chief Justice John Roberts to assign a panel of inquiry judges outside of the 9th circuit to conduct this investigation. Ultimately, Kozinski declared a mistrial (that case is still pending despite the defendant’s efforts to squirm away under double jeopardy grounds), recused himself, and an investigation took place. The finding was:
The Judge explained and admitted his error; apologized for it, recognizing its impact on the judiciary; and committed to changing his conduct to avoid any recurrence of the error. The offending material has been removed and will be destroyed. The Judges acknowledgment of responsibility combined with the corrective actions he has already completed or has committed to pursue and his apology, along with our admonishment, made public in this opinion, properly remed[y] the problems raised by the complaint.
The penalty for a 9th Circuit judge looking at porn: admonishment!
Nick Kam 