In the drawing of straws, Max Hardcore got a judge in Tampa with rumored ties to the Christian Coalition. On the other hand, Ira Isaacs, who has an obscenity trial this week in Los Angeles gets a judge who blows straws. Or at least the paper covers off of them in restaurants. [True story.]

From what we’ve been gathering about Kozinski, not only is he a staunch defender of the First Amendment, he’s a pretty cool guy and doesn’t appear to be the tight ass most of his robed brethren are.

From Wikipedia: [One of] Kozinski’s highest-profile cases to date was the lawsuit filed by Mattel against the Danish pop-dance group Aqua for “turning Barbie into a sex object” in their song “Barbie Girl.” Kozinski opened the case with “If this were a sci-fi melodrama, it might be called Speech-Zilla meets Trademark Kong” and famously concluded his opinion with the words: “The parties are advised to chill.” Mattel, Inc. v. MCA Records, Inc., 296 F.3d 894, 908 (9th Cir. 2002).

Kozinski has won admirers across the political spectrum who praise what many admirers feel to be “common sense” decisions and his libertarian instinct. As an essayist, his writing is clear and often humorous, and has been featured in mainstream publications such as Slate, The New Yorker, The New Republic and National Review. He also has a reputation as an active and sometimes intimidating questioner during oral argument. Because English is not his native language, he spoke for years with a strong accent which was often surprising to lawyers who are familiar only with his distinctive writing style.”