You know that person who embarrasses everyone at the table by telling an off-color joke or doing something just as gross?

Is that Judge Alex Kozinski? Is he the creepy guy who will embarrass the legal profession, wait for everyone else to walk away and then just keep being “that” judge?

While the profession ponders the question, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is launching an inquiry, Kozinski’s clerks are quitting, and many people are piling on the jurist following the exposure of his sexual misconduct. Next?

What Will It Take?

Above the Law, a ready finger-pointer, is pointing to the door. Those writers want Kozinski off the bench yesterday.

“What will it take to get Alex Kozinski off the Ninth Circuit?” Kathryn Rubino asks.

The website has tallied more than a thousand votes from readers, with 90 percent calling for Kozinski’s resignation, censure, or impeachment. At the same time, however, most think nothing will happen.

That’s because a federal judgeship is a lifetime appointment, Kozinski has survived public censure before, and he has downplayed the most recent reports about his troublesome behavior.

Kozinski Stories

If you missed any of the latest about the jurist, here are a few trending stories:

  • Who Will Judge the Judge?
  • Chief Judge Initiates Review of Allegations Against Alex Kozinski
  • Clerks Resign As 9th Circuit Launches Harassment Probe Of Kozinski

With all the media coverage, it seems as if Kozkinski has flown under the radar for a long time. He told the Los Angeles Times,  “If this is all they are able to dredge up after 35 years, I am not too worried.”

But whoever is to blame for the embarrassing truth, i.e. Kozinski, the Ninth Circuit, the legal system, it’s a problem that is not going away. Kind of like Kozinski.