Judge Alex Kozinski of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has declared a mistrial in an obscenity case after he admitted hosting a private Web site that contains pornography. He recused himself, and said he would ask a court to reassign it.
Bob Peters, president of Morality in Media said Kozinski's admission could affect his future rulings.
“It does not necessarily mean that the judge is going to rule unfairly in favor of the defendant," he said. "But the potential is there, and there’s an appearance of impropriety.”
Peters said this case points to the pervasiveness of pornography.
“We have prosecutors and law-enforcement agents at various levels who don’t want to deal with it," he said. "Part of the explanation is it affects them personally — either directly or indirectly."
Kozinski said he has deleted the offensive material.
