The X-rated judge

Bloomberg reporter Cynthia Cotts has a remarkable story about a new complaint alleging that 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Alex Kozinski "broke into a judicial computer security system to restore access to pornographic Web sites."

Kozinski's frisky actions in 2001 allegedly included downloading pornographic movies and were said to have prompted the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist to declare: "Tell Kozinski to watch pornography at home and not in his own court." The imposing former head of the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts, Ralph Mecham filed the complaint with the Philadelphia-based 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals and provided a copy to Cotts. An October 2007 letter provided by the ABA Journal, and cited by the Wall Street Journal Law Blog, spells out further details.

Kozinski's attorney Mark Holscher told Cotts the allegations were old and "baseless."

A free-thinking soul who once appeared on The Dating Game, Kozinski is now facing a separate inquiry by the 3rd Circuit panel into allegations that he retained sexually explicit images on a Web site.