LOS ANGELES — A federal appeals court judge under scrutiny for sexually explicit videos and photos posted on a personal Web site is the victim of distortions and “outright lies” published by the Los Angeles Times, his wife charged Monday.
Marcy Jane Tiffany, wife of 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, described some of the material stored on the home computer as raunchy and juvenile. Only about a half-dozen files among hundreds had a “sexual aspect,” but they were not pornography, she said.
“Alex is not into porn — he is into funny — and sometimes funny has a sexual character,” Tiffany wrote in a nearly 2,000-word defense of her husband, posted on a Web site called patterico.com.
In a brief telephone interview, Tiffany confirmed that she wrote the statement and declined further comment, except to quote the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.”
The newspaper’s California editor, David Lauter, said in a statement that the articles were fair and accurate.
The stories “raised important issues on a matter of significant public concern,” Lauter said. “The judge was presented with the facts … and was given a full opportunity to respond.”
Meanwhile Monday, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts transferred a review of Kozinski’s conduct to the judicial council of a different circuit. The chairman of the judicial council of the Philadelphia-based 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, Chief Judge Anthony Scirica, then named himself and four other judges to handle the ethics investigation.
Kozinski called for the probe after news articles about the Web site were published. Separately, Kozinski last week declared a mistrial in an obscenity trial over which he was presiding.
The now-blocked material on the Web site, alex.kozinski.com, included a photo of naked women on all fours painted to look like cows, and a video of a man being pursued by a sexually aroused donkey. The Times said the site included images of masturbation, and a slide show featuring a striptease with a transsexual.