PHILADELPHIA – A high-ranking federal judge who made sexually explicit material available on the Internet was cleared of judicial misconduct with an admonishment Thursday by fellow judges.

Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in California, was "careless" and "judicially imprudent" in possessing the material and not safeguarding his files, the panel found. He also failed to fully correct the problem when it was discovered, the judges said.

However, the panel found no need to discipline Kozinski, who recused himself from an obscenity trial under way last year when news broke that explicit photos and videos were available through the Web address alex.kozinski.com.

Kozinski has said he thought the material – which included a video of a man cavorting with a sexually aroused farm animal and a picture of nude women on all fours and painted to look like cows – couldn't be seen by the public. The judge has also said he didn't believe any of the images was obscene.

"Is it prurient? I don't know what to tell you," he told the Los Angeles Times in a June 2008 interview. "I think it's odd and interesting. It's part of life."

Kozinski, 58, has since apologized for embarrassing the federal judiciary, according to the 41-page decision released Thursday by the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court, which was asked to investigate the misconduct complaint.

Kozinski's lawyer, Mark Holscher, of Los Angeles, declined to comment Thursday on the decision.

The Associated Press

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