Judge Alex Kozinski: From Communist Romania to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals
Kris now delivers medical cannabis
March 17, 2013
The Simpsons Season 13 Episode 16 – Weekend at Burnsie’s
March 17, 2013
“Those of you who’ve had the good fortune to be born in the United States simply have not known the absence of freedoms,” says Judge Alex Kozinski, Chief Jud…
49 Comments
Wrong. Just look around the world (or around you).
Freedom only exist if you live on a deserted island. The USA may be more free than Romina but it’s by no means “free”
Haha! But of course! This is always the claim of the dedicated communist isn’t it: “We never failed, we just haven’t got there yet.”
Wow, I am shocked to find out that he is against jury nullification and not only is he against it but he appears to have grossly misinterpreted it. That right there just totally altered my opinion of him. Jury Nullification has been around for over 800 years and is incredibly important as a means for the people to judge the law makers.
I’m really shocked at his position on this. I hope he never gets near the supreme court.
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Am I an Anarchist now? Wow, I never knew. But aside from any labels, a pragmatic rather than symbolic stance does tend to validate the idea that centralized planning has never produced more innovation than distributed power and reliance on consent. If I am an Anarchist (which I’m not), I suppose it’s only because there are policy-specific examples of evidence which support that idea. If the implementation of communism was bad, was it not the ideal that created that poor administration?
Yup. Anarchists too.
Err… look, the Romanian people actually shed blood in the process of getting rid of communism. Sure, there are some old people who miss communism, and younger people who associate it with their childhood and what not.. Also, crony capitalism is rampant nowadays and everybody knows it. But don’t think for a moment that we would willingly get back to it.
I think Putin said it best: “Whoever does not miss the Soviet Union has no heart. Whoever wants it back has no brain.”
Ah, but Putin only said that because he wants the old powers of the Soviet system in his own hands.
It was a great idea. It was the practice that failed.
it wasn’t a great idea, i don’t think it’s ever a great idea that others tell me what i can or can’t do
The Judge is wrong about jury nullification. I can’t believe that he does not know the history of jury nullification and its purpose in this country.
No crime was worse under the USSR, because criminals completely dominated the law. The murder of millions was perfectly legal. It’s not a different system there’s just less criminals in government than then and more on the street then than. Remember don’t steal or murder the government hates competition.
How will third party rules effect assistive technologies?
I think the statement is meant to show that a lot of people don’t appreciate other people’s freedoms, which would not be an untrue observation.
12 unqualified door knobs deciding your fate is a very bad idea.
Kozinski finds his inner communist child when he rejects jury nullification.
Freedom is not lost all at once. The Tree of Freedom is felled in chip by chip. That is why it’s called “progressivism”.
According to a 2010 poll, 46% of Romanians said they preferred communism. 72% said that capitalism had failed them. There are similar stats from around Eastern Europe. For example, ‘Ostalgia’, the feeling that many East Germans feel, that they miss the old system.
This was an interesting interview but I cannot believe the guy running the audio board did not get someone to fix his mic.
I got half way through and I can’t stand it anymore. It would have taken like 10 seconds on stage to straighten and move his mic up to stop it from brushing against his jacket all the time. The interviewer sounds great, the Judge, not so much.
Bit of a miscommunication here. I’m not in favor of either of those systems.
Communism was a bad idea, but US jingoism is just as abhorrent to me.
What about the people who were sent to Labor Camps in Siberia? Were they better off than they are now?
People talk on the phone so much so loudly in public so often, that I have become an expert at deciphering conversations where I can only hear one side.
I’m very fortunate to have numerous immigrant friends who survived the hell of life in the USSR. The vast majority have very low opinions of people in the USA who actually think Communism was a good idea.
You must be an anarchist then. Government always rules by force, after all.
how boutn a little feedback control soundguy….god how annoying…just pull dow the offending frequency!!
You don’t know the history of the Magna Carta?
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i live in vegas. did i just miss all the fun!?
🙁
You must be an anarchist then. Government always rules by force, after all.
I do, a bunch of aristocrats forced a king to recognize some rights.What does it matter and how does it change the fact that juries suck?
Jews were not given citizenship in Romania until close to WWII, at which point it was useless. Romania cannot be faulted for joining the Axis – they needed to protect themselves from the USSR – but they certainly can for actively participating in the Holocuast. (Of course, those people are very old now or dead.)
At least in Russia during the former Soviet Union the people KNEW when to give it up, they KNEW when it was over. Americans will never figure it out, they will go for broke.
No killing rich people and outlawing money was most definitely a bad idea.
I agree but the have people in the Russia who miss the USSR because crime and corruption is actually worse now then it was then..reality is people suck no matter what the system
Properly informed juries do more than judge the arguments for and against an defendant, they decide if a law is just. Without citizen jurists, you lose an incredibly important check against government and establishment, the ability to free a person being prosecuted via a immoral or unjust law. That is why Kozinski’s opinion on this matter is shocking, it is counter to a concept of free peoples that is at least 800 years old. We judge the law makers.
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My philosophy is “The only people who should talk about what’s wrong with the world are the ones who aren’t full of shit” I don’t want a fucking murderer to tell me the terrible crimes of Rape. That’s what YOU are, you are an immoral scumbag yet almost everything you say has this despicable Holier than thou approach to it, fuck off. You keep complaining about how much cops and the US kills yet you DIDN’T care about the victims of 9/11. Fuckin hypocrite piece of shit.
Seems like it’s a criticism of the jury system, and not of jury nullification.
I’m getting ads from “mayors against gun violence”. And I live in Israel!
what other statistics did you uncover? For instance, what was the age group of those polled? What was the method of taking this poll? Throwing out a poll by itself proves nothing.
Freedom and truth regulated by America?
They teach in CAlifornia state university system, that communism would work without the human element corrupting it. Haha yeah thats the problem, it still has a hierarchy which evil people are drawn to .
The Judge is absolutely right about privacy in communication. If you don’t stake out a niche of privacy in your life, it is as if it doesn’t exist. This is why I don’t use Facebook.
Jury nullification is a mixed bag. It is only pro-liberty if the population from which the jury pool arises is pro-liberty. If the population is dependent on government pork and gravy and supports government controls, Jury nullification could easily lead to acquittal of corrupt politicians and bureaucrats.
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Greetings, kmg501, trucid2, and Redmond. I, of course, not condemning jury nullification. I’m just saying that, given the rabble we have in this nation, jury nullification is no longer a reliable tool for protecting life, liberty, and property from tyranny. If you can use jury nullification, all well and good, but I’d still keep a sharp spoon and a Raquel Welch poster in your prison cell in case it doesn’t work out.
I’m confused by your statement. The fact that you’re on this website putting a comment, uh…you’re exercising your freedom of free speech.
An incredibly ignorant populace isn’t a reason to condemn a system that otherwise works for reigning in out of control power. I hear your frustration though. American is now undoubtedly governed by the corrupt and stupid.
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That is a searing comment if I ever saw one. I’m really still shocked that he took that position. It is a position of astounding ignorance, (considering his anointed professional role in American jurisprudence) and a position that is so antithetical to a libertarian, constitutional, historical viewpoint that it still really shocks me that he actually holds it.
Wow, just wow. Sadly I think ReasonTV will drop the ball on pointing out this major philosophical ignorance flaw of Judge Kozinski.
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You must be an anarchist then. Government always rules by force, after all.
Jyury nullification has done great things in the past, such as overturn convictions of fugitive slaves and those who hid them, draft resisters, pot smokers, and other prosecuted for victimless acts.
However, considering that a majority of U.S. Citizens voted for Barack Hussein Obama (MMM! MMM! MMM!) I seriously doubt I’d trust my life and liberty to 12 jurors anymore. I’d sooner go Monte Cristo if convicted and take my chances.