Searching for Alex Kozinski: the controversial 9th Circuit judge on free speech, privacy, and why he didn't mind the Kelo decision

Reason, July, 2006 by Shikha Dalmia

reason: How do you practice this art?

Kozinski: Well, you have to start with the words. If you look at some of the opinions of Justice William O. Douglas, for example, he wasn't even bothered with the words. And that's problematic. But though words are important, they are not like weights and measures, that there're always 50 grams: 50 grams today, 50 grams yesterday, 50 grams 100 years ago. Words are cultural references. They're proxies for ideas that people share, and the ideas that we share are different in material respects from those of the Founding Fathers. We view the world in different ways even when we use the same words as they did.

reason: You sound a bit like John Roberts and Sam Alito during their confirmation hearings. Do you have an eye toward a nomination to the Supreme Court? Does that influence what you say now?

Kozinski: I've written for 20 years, so I don't think anybody has any doubt about what my record is. But it is very hard to say categorically that you are always on one side of the issue or the other.

reason: Has your long record made you too radioactive to be nominated to the Supreme Court?

Kozinski: I'm not going to answer this question.

reason: Then can you tell us which justice or judge out there most exemplifies your own approach to law?

Kozinski: Judge Kozinski.