From the Editor

By Martin Lasden
     
When, in March 1991, we published our first cover story about Alex Kozinski ("The Amazing Kozinski"), the talk among many observers was that the then- 40-year-old, Reagan-appointed Ninth Circuit judge was both young enough and brilliant enough to make it to the U.S. Supreme Court someday.
      Now, 17 years later, such talk has largely abated. And it's not just because the political winds in Washington have shifted. Nor is it because Kozinski, who is far more of a libertarian than a conservative, has a much longer list of impolitic dissents to explain. For at least as controversial as his best-read opinions are the occasional feuds he's gotten into. Like the one back in 2001 when, in the name of judicial autonomy, Kozinski dismayed court administrators by disabling the Internet filters for the Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth circuits. Then there was the time in 2003 that he dropped in to chat with the death-row inmates at San Quentin State Prison, which provoked a rebuke from thenAttorney General Bill Lockyer.
      But even if Kozinski doesn't ever get to the U.S. Supreme Court, his career did take an interesting turn last November when, by virtue of his seniority, he became the Ninth Circuit's chief judge-a seven-year assignment that calls for an uncommon amount of diplomacy and tact. Is Kozinski up to the job?
      John Roemer, who reports on the federal courts for the San Francisco Daily Journal, takes the question head on in this month's cover story ("Just Being Kozinski," page 22). "Kozinski has never been a team player," Roemer observes. "And he can't be a successful chief if he remains aloof and self-centered."
      Roemer notes that one of the first issues to come before Kozinski as chief is judicial discipline. Such discipline has been and could continue to be a touchy subject, given the strong inclination of the Judicial Conference in Washington, D.C., to assume oversight. "When I asked him about the discipline issue last November," Roemer recalls, "he claimed that he hadn't given it any thought. Of course, I didn't believe him."
      Roemer also thinks that, in the end, there's an even chance Kozinski will grow bored with the administrative aspects of the job and find a face-saving way to hand it over to someone else before his full term is up.
      Also in this issue, we report on the introspections of several highly accomplished lawyers who told us what they would do differently if they had "it" to do over ("No Regrets?" page 28). Their responses may surprise you.
     
     
     

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