Kozinski
(Photo
by
Justin
Sullivan/Getty
Images)
Hooboy!
Disgraced
former
Ninth
Circuit
judge
Alex
Kozinski
is
back.
He’s
written
a
piece
in
the
Wall
Street
Journal
asserting
—
with
little
more
then
naked
conjecture
—
that
the
United
States’
elections
could
be
canceled.
The
piece
is
very
short,
shockingly
devoid
of
context,
and
lacking
any
semblance
of
intellectual
rigor.
Kozinski
spends
a
solid
half
of
the
article
telling
an
anecdote
about
the
cancelation
of
the
elections
in
his
native
Romania.
He
uses
that
as
a
springboard
to
speculate
about
American
elections.
But
to
get
there,
he
first
has
to
throw
out
some
right-wing
talking
points
about
free
speech.
As
the
Fifth
U.S.
Circuit
Court
of
Appeals
detailed
in Missouri
v.
Biden, our
government
exerted
considerable
pressure,
even
coercion,
to
extirpate
ideas
from
social
media.
Certain
topics—such
as
Covid’s
origin,
remedies
and
vaccine
safety,
transgenderism,
climate
change
and
the
legitimacy
of
the
2020
election—were
deemed
nondebatable.
Many
who
expressed
views
contrary
to
the
official
position
were
canceled.
Listen,
there
are
some
genuine
problems
with
free
speech
in
this
country.
But
exactly
ZERO
of
them
are
anything
in
Missouri
v.
Biden
(later
Murthy
v.
Missouri).
And
it
is
very
telling
that
Kozinski
references
the
Fifth’s
Circuit’s
take
on
the
case
—
because
they
were
reversed
by
the
Supreme
Court
(you
know
the
Supreme
Court
that
has
a
6-3
conservative
majority).
There
is
no
free
speech
problem
there.
The
ex-jurist
is
already
on
record
defending
wild
conspiracy
theories
about
the
COVID-19
vaccine
and
the
2020
election
as
“correct
or
at
least
debatable.”
Which,
no,
they
aren’t.
But
advancing
far-right
theories
is
part
of
Kozinski’s
path
back
to
relevance
since
he
left
the
bench
under
a
cloud
of
scandal.
But
this
is
some
truly
out-of-pocket
shit.
The
former
judge’s
fall
from
grace
happened
in
2017. Kozinski
retired amid
a sexual
harassment
scandal that
rocked
the
legal
world.
While
the
jurist
was somewhat
famous in
legal
circles
for
his
bawdy
sense
of
humor,
the extent
of
the
alleged
harassment —
asking
women
clerks
to
view
pornography
with
him
in
his
chambers,
making
inappropriate
sexual
comments,
and
verbal
abuse
heaped
on
females
working
in
his
chambers
—
was
more
hidden.
However,
an
exposé
on
the
judge
sparked
an
avalanche
of
over
a
dozen
women
coming
forward
to
share
their
experiences
with
the
judge.
But
his
retirement
short-circuited
any
investigation
into
the
allegations.
In
the
WSJ
article,
Kozinski
pivots
from
individuals
getting
colloquially
“canceled”
to
the
actual
cancellation
of
U.S.
elections
with
all
the
grace
of
a
panda
learning
to
ice
skate.
Could
American
elections
be
canceled
next?
Some
states
came
close
in
2024
by
attempting
to
remove
from
their
ballots
the
candidate
who
eventually
won
the
presidency.
There
was
no
uproar;
the
Supreme
Court
had
to
intervene.
During
the
pandemic,
Americans
put
up
with
unprecedented
and
draconian
restrictions
on
their
freedom
of
movement,
school
closures,
destruction
of
businesses
and
interference
with
doctor-patient
relationships.
Much
of
this
met
with
little
resistance,
in
large
part
because
authorities
in
government
and
media
suppressed
discussion
and
debate.
If
enough
panic
is
stirred
up,
canceling
elections
isn’t
inconceivable.
This
is
actually
head-smackingly
dumb.
Litigating
the
application
of
the
14th
Amendment’s
prohibition
on
insurrectionists
holding
office
is
actually
a
point
in
favor
of
the
rule
of
law.
It’s
not
like
political
animus
was
the
motivation
behind
some
states
trying
to
keep
Donald
Trump
off
the
ballot,
it
was
an
attempt
to
hold
fealty
to
the
Constitution.
The
final
authority
on
the
Constitution
weighed
in.
I
don’t
even
much
like
the
result
in
the
case
and
can
concede
that
is
how
our
system
is
designed
to
work.
And,
good
grief
with
the
COVID
victimization
trope
again!
Listen,
it
was
a
pandemic.
Our
laws
are
able
to
respond
to
extraordinary
circumstances,
and
good
faith
efforts
to
keep
people
alive
were
even
struck
down
when
courts
found
the
measures
impeded
rights.
This
is
all
a
demonstration
of
how
an
actual
functional
government
works.
From
these
examples,
rushing
to
a
conclusion
that
American
elections
could
be
canceled
because
of
vibes
is
whiplash
inducing.
Finally,
Kozinski
holds
up
JD
Vance’s
much
maligned
speech
at
the
Munich
Security
Conference,
where
the
vice
president
tried
to
pick
a
fight
with
some
of
America’s
strongest
allies,
as
a
sort
of
bellwether
of
freedom.
Our
legacy
media
have
greeted
Mr.
Vance’s
speech
largely
with
disdain
and
horror.
They
are
wrong.
The
speech
is
epic.
It
reminds
Europeans
and
Americans
that
the
values
of
the
Enlightenment,
as
captured
in
our
Constitution—not
least
the
right
to
think,
speak
and
debate
freely—are
the
glue
that
binds
us
together.
If
we
don’t
defend
those
values,
there
isn’t
much
left
worth
defending.
This
bit
right
here
makes
me
want
to
scream.
You
want
to
take
about
“the
right
to
think,
speak
and
debate
freely”?
Look
at
what
side
is
banning
books.
And
erasing
vital
parts
of
the
history
of
Stonewall.
And
memory-holing
the
reason
we
had
to
guarantee
birthright
citizenship.
And
trying
to
impeach
judges
just
because
they
don’t
like
how
they
ruled.
And
investigating
members
of
Congress
because
they
called
Elon
Musk
a
“dick”
on
TV.
And.
And.
And.
And.
And.
And.
The
article
is
so
wildly
disingenuous
for
a
legal
mind
that
was
one
considered
a
bright
star.
It’s
almost
like
there’s
something
else
afoot.
Oh.
OH.
Oh.
Canceling
elections
is
certainly
one
way
to
get
around
the
pesky
problem
of
the
22nd
Amendment.
Kathryn
Rubino
is
a
Senior
Editor
at
Above
the
Law,
host
of
The
Jabot
podcast,
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
AtL
tipsters
are
the
best,
so
please
connect
with
her.
Feel
free
to
email
her
with
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments
and
follow
her
on
Twitter
@Kathryn1 or
Mastodon
@[email protected].