U.S. appellate judge steps down over lewd behavior

A prominent U.S. appeals court judge announced his immediate retirement Monday after reports he had behaved inappropriately toward women. The Washington Post reported last week that at least 15 women had accused Judge Alex Kozinski of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals of misconduct ranging from lewd remarks to unwanted touching. “I may not have been mindful enough of the special challenges and pressures that women face in the workplace,” Kozinski said in a statement. “It grieves me to learn that I caused any of my clerks to feel uncomfortable; this was never my intent. For this I sincerely apologize.” From 2007 to 2014, Kozinski, 67, was chief judge of the 9th Circuit, the largest federal appeals court circuit that covers much of the western United States. Kozinski’s retirement leaves five seats open on the 9th Circuit, with two more judges already having announced their intention to retire next year. That gives President Donald Trump potentially seven seats to fill on the largest and most liberal appeals court in the country. Even if all those judgeships were filled, Democrats would still have 17 of the court’s 29 seats.