December 11, 2017

"I want greater honesty regarding judicial clerkships. Law students are often told in glowing terms that a clerkship will be the best year in their career."

"They are never told that it might, in fact, be their worst—and that if it is their worst, they may be compelled to lie to others in the name of loyalty to their judge. I also want law schools to start giving our best and brightest students accurate advice about clerkships. Students are often told that if they receive a clerkship offer from a judge, they must say 'yes' without hesitation. I cannot imagine a situation more rife for abuse. Students should feel free to say no to any judge who triggers their discomfort for any reason."

That's one of 4 proposals at the end of the compelling narrative written by Heidi Bond (AKA Courtney Milan), which is the background to "Prominent appeals court Judge Alex Kozinski accused of sexual misconduct" (Washington Post). I had not seen Bond's full statement when I wrote about the WaPo article 2 days ago, and if the link is in there, I'm still not seeing it. I got the link from Paul Campos at Lawyers, Guns, and Money, who begins "Heidi Bond’s account of her interactions with Alex Kozinski needs to be read in full...." I agree. Please read the whole thing. It made a very different impression on me than the WaPo article... and from the things Paul Campos goes on say.

Here's Campos:
It’s important to recognize that men like Kozinski — and there are obviously a lot of them in our society — are sadists. That is, they get off, metaphorically and no doubt literally, on being cruel to people who are relatively powerless. Power, sex, domination, hierarchy, cruelty — it’s all mixed up for these guys. They are bullies and perverts, and they are everywhere.
Before taking the time to read Bond's direct account, I was inclined to say that I agree with the generality about some men, but didn't think it was fair to conclude that Kozinski belonged in that category and that we should only be saying that he might and that we only know what Heidi Bond says happened and how it made her feel. It's some evidence, and even if we take it as true, we still need to make an inference to get to Kozinski's mental state. It seemed wrong and unfair for Campos to present that inference as a known fact.

But now I want to step back from a critique of the Campos rhetoric and direct you to Bond's excellent narrative. To encourage you to read Bond, let me extract the part that relates to her career path into writing romance novels:

[O]ne day, my judge found out I had been reading romance novels over my dinner break... Romance novels, he said, were a terrible addiction, like drugs, and something like porn for women, and he didn’t want me to read them any more. He told me he wanted me to promise to never read them again.

“But it’s on my dinner break,” I protested.

He laid down the law—I was not to read them anymore. “I control what you read,” he said, “what you write, when you eat. You don’t sleep if I say so. You don’t shit unless I say so. Do you understand?”

There was nothing to say but this: “Yes, Judge.”...
After the clerkship:
In a private act of defiance, I didn’t just read romance novels—I began to write them. I wrote dozens of books where my characters had secrets that they could not tell. The secret varied—sometimes a heroine kept it; sometimes it was the hero.

I wrote books where women won, again and again.

I grappled with my own secret in fictional, changed form. Book after book, I wrote the happy ending I couldn’t quite reach myself. That the stories I wrote resonated with readers, I think, speaks to the fact that #metoo has been building for centuries.....

78 comments:

rhhardin said...

It's women are weak and revenge. Guess what feeling that plays to. #MeToo

She'd like the I Spit on your Grave series, except there's a lot of nudity to make it interesting to men.

There they play to a mixed audience, which is not the case here. #ForWomen

rhhardin said...

Woman revenge flicks involving martial arts are a bore.

You want punching the guy out, throwing him down the stairs before he's knifed and then shot.

Gahrie said...

I wrote books where women won, again and again.

Hell ya! Fuck men..who needs them?

Gahrie said...

He laid down the law—I was not to read them anymore. “I control what you read,” he said, “what you write, when you eat. You don’t sleep if I say so. You don’t shit unless I say so. Do you understand?”

Wanna bet he said the same things to the men who worked for him?

rhhardin said...

Did you know that you can escape the institutional system by actually enthusiastically taking advantage of what the institution claims to offer, rather than what it does offer.

Goffman's _Asylums_

Bay Area Guy said...

Heidi Bond had a bad experience as a law clerk. So, what? She can express her opinion, and thousands of other law clerks can express theirs.

I have a good friend who was a young attractive female (at the time) who had a wonderful experience as a law clerk for Kozinski.

The only thing even mildly interesting is that both Bond and my friend were not Reaganite, anti-communists like Kozinsky (who's family fled Romania).

I always thought it was odd that my friend (a moderate leftist) worked for Kozinksy, but maybe ole Alex was choosing physical beauty over political/judicial philosophy, and got burned by Bond.

rhhardin said...

Usually it's not until chapter 8 that the guy unfurls his manhood in romance novels.

Romance revenge novels probably have to move it forward. The climax has to be the woman getting off, not the guy.

Mattman26 said...

Look, if you're going to work for a man, at least where the sample size is large enough you're going to run the risk of working for some sort of manipulative/abusive type. Probably true if you're going to work for a woman, too, though perhaps with some different distributions.

But that has nothing to do with doing a judicial clerkship. I clerked for a US court of appeals judge who was an absolute gentleman (and I'm 100% confident he was that to his female clerks as well), and it was about as good a job as a young lawyer could ever hope to have.

Most judicial clerks in my universe had similar experiences. But for sure not all.
So, breaking news: There are assholes out there; try not to work for them.

rhhardin said...

The thing about one-on-one resolutions is that the woman can find a nice guy. For one thing, the nice guys haven't yet isolated themselves from women, who appear to be uniformly crazy.

Making every guy nice by regulation isn't viable, for at least three reasons.

YoungHegelian said...

Power, sex, domination, hierarchy, cruelty — it’s all mixed up for these guys. They are bullies and perverts, and they are everywhere.

How long does one need to be around lawyers & especially judges before one figures out that a lot of them are flaming assholes? Judges are well known to run their courts like feudal lords.

I'm in IT, & among us geeks, lawyers are their own "vertical market". Well, every sort of business is in its own vertical market, but lawyers are special not just because of the special requirements of the legal profession (long hours of coverage that need short response times), but also because your IT staff has to be able to work with lawyers. It's a special inter-personal skill.

That a junior lawyer, who supposedly is so hot-shot that s/he is a candidate for a clerkship, is unaware of the personality types that surround him/her, strikes me as just bizarre.

rhhardin said...

It appears to be an Althouse hot button.

Nothing else matters until it sinks in a few weeks later.

Rick said...

I've previously hypothesized that harassment is more rampant in industries hyper-dependent on vision or hard to define traits or individual abilities. Note here how the Judge turns thus into a duty manipulating her into staying.

This is what he had to say in that article: “A Supreme Court clerkship is not simply a job, a great honor, or a stepping stone to plum jobs in the legal profession—it is membership in a family, with correlative rights and responsibilities…. The clerk has a duty of diligence, loyalty, and confidentiality, both to the Justice who appoints him and to the other Justices.

I see cult tactics turning a loyalty to something (god in the case of cults) into loyalty to the person. Political activism seems much about creating the same sort of hero worship where breaking the link to the abuser feels like breaking the abused's committment to the cause.

Politician, Hollywood, and big media all fit this dynamic as do the courts. Think how bad it is in pro sports - Brett Favre to Jenn Sterger - and that is with limited female participation.

Rick said...

I omitted Silicon Valley - another cultish industry.

Curious George said...

"I wrote books where women won, again and again."

So I can find them in the fiction section, right?

;-)

n.n said...

Her personal testimony is one witness. Is there corroborating evidence to support her perspective?

As for the conventional prejudice to paint with broad, sweeping strokes, in the business, her experience is what is known as anecdotal, with a potential and perhaps actual progression to the post-normal characterization of "diversity".

Anyway, the moral of the story is that men and women need to discover their dignity, know their choices before conception, and act with moderation, responsibility, and proportion.

AllenS said...

"I wrote books where women won, again and again."

Well, What Happened?

Otto said...

"It appears to be an Althouse hot button." At least we can just close the tab but poor Meade, he has to listen to this meme 24/7 .

Michael K said...

For one thing, the nice guys haven't yet isolated themselves from women, who appear to be uniformly crazy.

I'm coming to that conclusion.

Two of my female medical students a few years ago invited me to attend a performance of "Vagina Monologues" with them. I think one was acting in it.

Should I have reported that ?

Big Mike said...

Clarification needed. When she writes “my Judge,” is that Kosinski? Or someone as yet unnamed?

buwaya said...

"He laid down the law—I was not to read them anymore. “I control what you read,” he said, “what you write, when you eat. You don’t sleep if I say so. You don’t shit unless I say so. Do you understand?”

One has taken, as I understand it, a position as an apprentice with a master, in a field that is a way of life.
He is Sensei, he is the Mother Superior. He means to form not just your mind but your soul.

Sebastian said...

@Campos: "They are bullies and perverts, and they are everywhere." No. But that is how you conduct witch hunts: witches are everywhere!

@AA: "It seemed wrong and unfair for Campos to present that inference as a known fact." I do appreciate your sense of fairness about unfairness, but this is beside the point: the point is to advance the Reckoning, by any means necessary, collateral damage be damned.

"There was nothing to say but this: “Yes, Judge.”" And still women claim equality?

"I wrote books where women won, again and again." OMG. You'd almost think women like to be "fetishized," given undue respect as losers who deserve to be winners.

Patrick Henry was right! said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
walter said...

?
Given her own direct interaction with the judge in question and the mounting zeitgeist, it seems perfectly understandable that Althouse would give this one a few more tosses than typical.
But given lack of proof here, seems like Bond is risking a slander or libel suit or something. I ain't got no legal learnin'..just how I feelz.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

In a private act of defiance, I didn’t just read romance novels—I began to write them.

Way to let him live in your head and continue to control your life.

Your life, your journey, your path, blah blah, but I don't buy these empowered tales of women who are so empowered they keep looking over their shoulder to see if Daddy is noticing how empowered they are.

Do your own thing. Indifference to fools, narcissists and charlatans is the most actually empowering trait a woman can cultivate.

Patrick Henry was right! said...

SO, she KEPT and FINISHED the clerkship?????

Thereby keeping someone else from having the opportunity of a lifetime?

Resignation is easy. One line on one page.

How selfish. And Narcissistic. And typical, these days.

One more thing - writing soft porn is not nearly as helpful to society as practicing law. It's just self indulgent, self delusion. Get off your hind end and go do something good and uplifting with your life!!!!

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

*shoulders

Gojuplyr831@gmail.com said...

As nn has asked; is there anything to support these allegations beyond personal claims?

Similarly, is there any supporting evidence to the claims the 3 women made about Trump? If Kozinsky is forced to resign due to unsupported allegations, will the same demands be made of Trump?

buwaya said...

"writing soft porn is not nearly as helpful to society as practicing law."

There are sound objections to this ranking of professions.

Henry said...

Bond's narrative is compelling, but entirely devoid of context. It is a "this happened, then this other thing happened."

I would say it reminds me of a romance novel, if I read romance novels. It certainly reminds me of a gothic novel, in it claustrophobic setting, the sterile sexuality, the undercurrents of madness and despair. In truth, it reminds me of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, which is not gothic at all, but a comic satire of gothic.

Henry said...

James Smith wrote: will the same demands be made of Trump?

The same demands have been made of Trump.

He's chosen to pay no attention.

Al Franken had the same option and may yet take it.

traditionalguy said...

About those Kozinski class Judge monsters, I am a #metoo. They don't limit their abuse targets to to the young female clerks. They actually have far more power over a trial lawyer in the courtroom who wants a fair ruling from them. And the assholes know how to make a good lawyer look bad just to prove their power. They are instinctively jealous of good men.

walter said...

IF(!) this is how it went, there were likely long stretches where things were more what she expected...busy, demanding..but with the ongoing possibility of being called in for another bizarro porno pic forensic/opinion consult..
And if you're not really sure what your future holds, resigning from that "opportunity of a lifetime" might feel like "then he wins".

Sam said...

Biggest regret of my work life was to accept uncritically a clerkship offer for an elected bombshell female trial court judge. Abusive, insulting and entitled. She went through clerks (all male) like tissues. Some hung on longer than others, but I was out of there pretty fast. Never found out if I could have enjoyed practicing law, having been gaslit into concluding that I was no good at it, despite my High Honors at a top tier law school. I received no mentorship, no constructive feedback on my draft orders, only scoffs and insults. At one point, I had convinced myself it was a good character-building "bad job" experience. But now I realize it was just toxic, and crippled me in my career forever.

Lucien said...

This makes it seem like she owes her romance novelist career to Judge Kozinski. She could be thankful, but Noooo . . .

Quayle said...

A friend was GC of one of the major dot.coms, and he told me that there are statistics on how often and when, etc., men look at and turn back to porn.

He told me that they can see that a very similar pattern exists with women and romance web sites. Usage and return statistics match or are close to men and visual porn sites. It is emotional porn. Both are apparently driven by some need and fantasy of someone who is not real, but who meets some desired characteristic.

walter said...

Well, yes Great Scot,
Power plays play out against underling men as well...sometimes sexually...sometimes by women.
Note how quickly journos are claiming male pervs are "everywhere" while the tally for female teachers screwing students continues with little to no national attention.

rhhardin said...

"I want greater honesty"

HONEST adj. 3. Of women, chaste.

walter said...

Yes Lucien, as should Ann Frank. ;)

Jessica said...

I clerked for a N.D.Ill. judge and a 7th Circuit judge. They were both men. They were both completely appropriate and gentlemanly at all times without exception. They are both heroes of mine. But in consuming all the #metoo narratives it occurred to me several times how awful it would have been if either of them had been a creep (or worse). Clerking seems to be a situation where this kind of harassment could happen largely unchecked. Good for her for coming forward.

Michael K said...

The full motion sex bots are arriving just in time.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

"I wrote books where women won, again and again."

Win...what exactly?

Sometimes wanting to win at all costs makes you the biggest loser. You got what you wanted, burned your bridges, destroyed your relationships and then found out that what you obtained wasn't the key to happiness after all.

You can lose by winning.

Future crazy cat ladies need to take note.

Professional lady said...

Jessica - I agree. Judges can get away with a lot. I was older when I went to law school and had worked for a large corporation, so I was more experienced and less naïve than most of my classmates when I graduated. This would have been very difficult for me to handle let alone someone younger with less experience.

Fernandinande said...

They are bullies and perverts, so they become judges.

Ray - SoCal said...

She actually may be making more money as a Romance Author than any legal career she could have had.

I would not be surprised if showing the Porn was seen as lesson to make her a better lawyer by the Judge, instead of harassment.

Jupiter said...

I read her account, and it seems to me that her problem is with his being controlling. That there is a sexual element is tangential, as he does not appear to have tried to have sex with her. He merely referred to sexual topics in a way that made her uncomfortable. Her real problem was her belief that her career would be ruined if she quit, and perhaps a less conscious sense that quitting would be a personal failure, an inability to cope.

I found myself in a similar situation a couple years ago. I had worked long and hard to get a great job with a great boss, and then he was moved to another project and I ended up with a total asshole. A real piece of work. I took it to HR, and to his boss, and they basically said "work it out", and I finally quit, and took a temp job at half the pay. I suppose if I were a woman I could have made it about sex, and I'd have won, one way or another.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

I read Heidi Bond’s narrative about being a law clerk under Judge Kozonski and almost posted a link to it in that thread, but decided against it as the anti woman/anti victim rhetoric was so rabid that evening that it just seemed a wasted effort.

William said...

I had a friend who was a good nurse and a first rate human being. She read nothing but Danielle Steele novels. Me,I was an English major and, back when I knew her, read nothing but critically acclaimed works of literature. So far as taste in literature goes, I was far superior to her, but by any other known metric she had the edge on me. I don't think anything meaningful can be said about the character and worth of women who read romance novels. It's something women do, like spending too much money on shoes. I've never read any romance novels, but I frequently read the captions under the photos in Playboy. We all have our weaknesses.

David said...

Heidi Bond is a skilled and successful fiction writer in addition to her many other talents. I have no idea whether she is making this up but certainly she has the skill to do so.

Kosinski has been a media darling judge for some time. Enjoyed for his quirkiness. Perhaps we will learn just how quirky he actually has been.

If he is indeed a serial offender, it seems likely that other members of the Federal judiciary had to be covering for him.

The funraveling is just beginning.

David said...

"decided against it as the anti woman/anti victim rhetoric was so rabid that evening that it just seemed a wasted effort."

You won't win and win and win again with that approach.

walter said...

Ray,
IF it was repeated a bunch of times, sounds more like he was less than subtly suggesting he wanted to screw her. I do think if she's going to allude to those times, she might as well describe how they went..and her reaction.
Did she just go in there stoic/robotic and leave? Did she "play along" with the bit after a while?
It's odd on both sides.

walter said...

And yes, her current vocation can easily err..arouse questions as to level of fiction involved. That and having depressive episodes.
Dunno...

Jupiter said...

"...they may be compelled to lie to others in the name of loyalty to their judge."

That was one of the weirdest aspects of the whole story. Apparently Kozinski had something of a fetish about confidentiality, going well beyond silence about legal matters and extending to anything that took place in his office. And because Kozinski had this fetish, she somehow felt bound by it -- "compelled", as she puts it. As if she could not do otherwise than he desired, even after leaving his employ. I suppose it would make sense to one of her readers.

Amadeus 48 said...

"I cannot imagine a situation more rife for abuse."

Our A+, U of M Law, physical chemist, Supreme Court clerk, romance novelist protagonist apparently doesn't know what preposition goes with "rife". It is "with", not "for". I also wonder if she meant she couldn't imagine a situation more ripe (fully developed or ready) for abuse.

I don't think we'll ever know. She needs an editor.

Wince said...

" I control what you read,” he said, “what you write, when you eat. You don’t sleep if I say so. You don’t shit unless I say so. Do you understand?"

Jupiter said...

walter said...
Ray,
"IF it was repeated a bunch of times, sounds more like he was less than subtly suggesting he wanted to screw her."

It actually sounds as if he wanted her expert opinion, as a female, on legally relevant aspects of pornography, and believed, or perhaps merely pretended to believe, that she could dispassionately give that opinion. As, indeed, a great many young women would be able to do, accompanied perhaps by a direct and unsentimental stare that would make him think twice about trying it again. I don't rule out the possibility that he got a kind of thrill from raising a subject in private that he would not have raised in public. But I don't think he realized what a nut case she was.

The accepted way to "less than subtly" suggest you want to screw someone is to place your hand on one of the areas of the body normally regarded as off limits. And she does not accuse him of that.

walter said...

Eh..I can imagine a pervy legal beagle knowing it better to get the woman to make the first move.
Need more details, Jupiter. How many times over what timeframe, demeanor.
She claims it had nothing to do with a case.

Amadeus 48 said...

If we are going into this deeply, I think we need to know about how much Heidi Bond has been under the influence of Prof. Catherine Mackinnon of the University of Michigan, the ur-legal scholar on sexual harassment and anti-pornography litigation and legislation.

Nothing she writes about Kozinski would surprise me. Some of it might even be true.

n.n said...

Masochism... No Judgment.

Jupiter said...

walter said...
"Eh..I can imagine a pervy legal beagle knowing it better to get the woman to make the first move."

If I understand you correctly, you are suggesting that Judge Kozinski was wont, when interested in a female colleague, to attempt to discover whether that interest was reciprocated. I confess, I have been known to attempt the same thing.

MadisonMan said...

There was nothing to say but this: “Yes, Judge.”

Sounds like he was talking to a Lawyer then.

Kirk Parker said...

William,

"I don't think anything meaningful can be said about the character and worth of men who watch pornographic video. It's something men do, like spending too much money on guns or guitars."

FIFY.

Rabel said...

Kozinski is totally to blame for all of this. He had a depressive, overgrown child working as his law clerk and he chose to treat her as a sane, mature adult. He should have known better.

The fact that he sent this lady on to serve as Justice O'Connor's clerk on the Supreme Court is just more evidence of his misogyny and possibly a personal grudge against O'Connor.

walter said...

Yes, Jupiter..
And if at first you don't succeed, pron, pron again.

readering said...

Check out the video of AK back when on The Dating Game giving the "date" an on-camera Adrien Brody-Halle Berry kiss.

StephenFearby said...

"He laid down the law—I was not to read them anymore. “I control what you read,” he said, “what you write, when you eat. You don’t sleep if I say so. You don’t shit unless I say so. Do you understand?”

I say lotsa stuff like that to the wif, including locking her up with shackles in a cellar dungeon if she doesn't improve her self-harming behavior. (Like incurring sleep deficits by staying up too late watching PBS's Charlie Rose program.)

It's me role-playing Werner Erhard (EST)!

I once dated a very nice, attractive, very intelligent (in many but not all dimensions) young lady who edited Harlequin bodice-ripper romance novels. She was drawn to an EST like cult run by a foreign guru and invited me to take an interest in it. When I started asking questions about it that she either couldn't or didn't want to answer, she began seeing me as a near and present danger of sin (which I was) and ultimately dumped me.

I suspect Kozinski was just trying to give his clerk good advice about wasting her time reading trashy novels by role-playing Werner Ehardt.

She seems just the type to novelize his behavior as being serious.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

But, like...if your boss is terrible then quit your job, right?
I mean, I get it, trust me: it's an incredibly prestigious position and will prove to be extremely lucrative (in terms of your future earning potential) and no one should be made to choose between keeping a great job and having a non-terrible boss...but this isn't some unique situation, is it? Lots of people have overdemanding bosses. If your boss is terrible and you can't fix that (by talking it out, complaining to HR, whatever) then you're supposed to quit. If you DON'T quit then you're accepting the terms of employment, aren't you? You're saying that, terrible as it is, you're willing to keep that job and put up with the awful boss. Right? Especially in a case like this where we're talking about a super-high-value job...it's not like this person was only doing this particular job because it's all she could get and would otherwise starve, etc.

I dunno--I sympathize with people who have terrible bosses. I'm not sure I should have EXTRA sympathy for this person in this case.

walter said...

Some demands are an extension of the job.
Others..not so much.

sean said...

Campos indicates that Kozinski's habitually inappropriate behavior to female clerks was well-known. Surely Prof. Althouse has enough professional contacts to confirm or deny that statement. But that would involve going out on a limb for truth and justice, uncharacteristic behavior for a tenured professor.

Anonymous said...

Her reaction to the "confidentially" rules Kozinski proclaimed seemed bizarre. Right after the thought, "Screw you" should have come "& your rules, too".

chickelit said...

What if Bond fails as a romance novel author? What then??

Anonymous said...

"There was nothing to say but this: "Yes, Judge.'..."

Bushwa. She could have said, "I quit." Or "I refuse to work under these conditions."

But no, she intelligently and voluntarily accepted a bargain in which she agreed to be treated badly in exchange for the career-building cachet of a Kozinski clerkship. After all, it's only for a year . . .

Douglas B. Levene said...

Some judges are control freaks and sadists, but their ire is expressed without regard to the gender of the clerk, so apparently no one cares. The year I clerked on the Second Circuit, two (or maybe three, I forget) Irving Kaufman clerks quit in midstream because he was impossibly abusive. No one is writing about that kind of abuse, which probably still goes on here and there. It has nothing to do with sex, it's just a straight-up lack of respect and abuse of power. Fortunately, the vast majority of federal judges treat their clerks with respect and kindness, which is one of the reasons clerking for a federal judge is such a great experience.

Jupiter said...

Well, that raises a question. Numerous people, including our hostess, have expressed a very high opinion of Judge Kozinski's abilities as a jurist. Certain people have expressed reservations about his ability to deal with women in the fashion in which they prefer to be dealt with. Must we discard the jurist, because some women find his manner unsettling? Mightn't it be possible to arrange things so that Judge Kozinski was not called upon to interact with those women, nor they with him? I think Judge Kozinski could answer this himself; as a matter of federal employment law, no, it is not possible. A man's ability to interact with women - any and all women -- in the manner they find in no wise unsettling, is the most important qualification conceivable for any job whatsoever. All other qualifications are secondary, and of little consequence.

To which I reply, "If the law thinks that, then the law is a ass!"

Krumhorn said...

I read her account...all of it. Maybe it’s my Aspergers. Maybe it’s my sense of white male privilege. Maybe I’m part of the phallocracy. However, I’m just not getting what all the tears and hair-pulling are about. He showed her porn. He didn’t hit on her. He didn’t force her to have sex with him. He didn’t bargain with her. He was just a crusty and crude SOB who she still says is a brilliant jurist.

The epithet ‘snowflake’ is widely tossed around, but surely she qualifies. I say, grow a pair! Join the Marines and find out what life is really about. She’s such a delicate little thing. Some drill sergeants at Quantico will set her fragile ass straight.

- Krumhorn.

Amadeus 48 said...

There is a lot going on in that narrative by Bond, but it conforms closely to some of Prof. Catherine MacKinnon's theories of sexual harassment and the effects of porn on society. MacKinnon is a very prominent feminist legal scholar at Michigan Law who has focused her work on sexual harassment (including expanding the boundaries of the concept) and who worked closely with Andrea Dworkin on attempts to ban pornography through litigation and legislation. My question is whether Bond, who has some psychological issues anyway, was unduly influenced by those theories to make more of this incident than it deserves. I'd be interested to know what Althouse, who worked in the legal academy, thinks of the potential for MacKinnon's out-sized influence here.

Bond has a creative imagination--she writes romance novels. She has put a lot of the elements of a Gothic novel into her story. See Jane Austin's Northanger Abbey for a famous satire of the genre. Here is Wikipedia's thumbnail summary:

"This 'coming of age,' story revolves around the main character, Catherine, a young and naïve 'heroine,' who entertains her reader on her journey of self-knowledge, as she gains a better understanding of the world and those around her. Because of her experiences, reality sets in and she discovers that she is not like other women who crave for wealth or social acceptance, but instead she is a true heroine in that she is an ordinary young woman who wishes to have nothing but happiness and a genuine sense of morality."

Kozinski may well have shown her some pornographic images--the 2008 complaint against Kozinski confirmed his computer stash. I wonder, though, if Bond has gilded the lily here in telling this story.

Amadeus 48 said...

Oops. It is "Austen", not Austin. I need an editor.

Big Mike said...

@Amadeus, I have bad news for you. Modern editors are pretty bad at the job of proofreading.

Left Bank of the Charles said...

She was his "computer clerk" and there is this bit of intrigue:

"The porn the judge showed me was stored on his personal server, a computer in his house that he left entirely unsecured. A year after I left, a disgruntled litigant discovered the existence of this server, and, in light of the images on it, Kozinski asked that an official ethics investigation be made into his conduct."

A year after she left the court of appeals would correspond with the end of the year she subsequently spent clerking at the Supreme Court. So there's an ethics investigation, and she knows something possibly relevant to it. At a very minimum, that raises the question of how the disgruntled litigant found out about the server, and whether she was suspected or thought she was suspected in that connection. That's the sort of thing that recolors one's memories.

Notwithstanding, the other women who have come forward have established a pattern of conduct. How do we score it, on a scale of 1 to 10 (where Harvey Weinstein is an 11)?