Judge Kozinski, whose seniority on the 9th makes him next in line to be Chief Judge, is described by the National Law Journal as “the first conservative in a decade” to lead the nation’s most liberal federal appellate court. The Reagan appointee admits to conservative instincts, but says ‘libertarian’ is a better description, meaning personal liberty is his top priority.
“I also believe in important principles of freedom, of speech, of religion and I think those things are terribly important.”
Kozinski was not in favor of the 9th’s decision that prohibited students from expressing their negative views about homosexuality on T-shirts. That’s important to Brad Dacus with the Pacific Justice Institute.
“He made it very clear that this was a very clear violation of Christian students. We here at the Pacific Justice Institute are fairly optimistic that he’s going to be a definite asset to the 9th Circuit in this position.”
Kozinski wasn’t on the panels that called ‘under God’ in the Pledge unconstitutional, or a case that chipped away at parental rights, so he could not comment. Will we see fewer of these outcomes now that Kozinski is in charge? Bruce Hausknecht with Focus on the Family Action doubts it.
“The Chief Judge position is more of an administrative role than a role that would actually impact the decisions that come out of the 9th Circuit.”
Dacus agrees.
“It’s great having a great general, but the troops are still the troops.”
Still, he hopes Kozinski’s respect of constitutional rights rubs off on his colleagues.
