Judicial Council Takes No Action Against Former Judge Alex Kozinski
(CNN) -- Nearly eight weeks after a federal judicial council received a sexual harassment complaint against California-based US Appeals Court Judge Alex Kozinski, the council said Monday that it was dismissing the grievance because Kozinski had stepped down in December.
"We recognize that the complaint references grave allegations of inappropriate misconduct, which the federal judiciary cannot tolerate," the judicial council of the 2nd Circuit wrote.
However, since Kozinski has announced his retirement, the council has dropped the matter.
The Washington Post reported in December that six former clerks or junior staffers claimed that Kozinski subjected them to inappropriate sexual conduct or comments. Other women subsequently came forward.
When he announced his retirement on December 18, Kozinski said in a statement, "I've always had a broad sense of humor and a candid way of speaking to both male and female law clerks alike. In doing so, I may not have been mindful enough of the special challenges and pressures that women face in the workplace. It grieves me to learn that I caused any of my clerks to feel uncomfortable; this was never my intent."
A recent CNN investigation found that judges who are subject to a serious complaint often leave the bench, immediately halting any investigation.
The CNN report also found that, overall, very few of the more than one thousand complaints filed each year against federal judges are deeply investigated. Seldom are judges reprimanded, suspended or subject to other disciplinary action.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
The-CNN-Wire
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