The Judicial Council of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which was charged with reviewing the judicial misconduct complaint against Judge Alex Kozinski of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, has concluded its investigation. The council's opinion admonished Kozinski for poor judgment, but noted that he acknowledged his mistake and cleared him of misconduct. (HT:How Appealing) More on Above the Law.

UPDATE: For more on this story, see the WSJ Law Blog and Patterico's Pontifications. The former posted the following statement from Judge Kozinski:

I asked the Third Circuit Court of Appeals to thoroughly review this matter, and I am pleased that today's unanimous decision reaffirms what I have said all along about my private files: They were kept on a private server and were not intended to be shared publicly. Our Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has much important work to do, and I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues to accomplish our goals.

The LA Times, which helped fan the flames of this story in the first place, reports on the decision, but curiously omits the fact that the judicial council cleared Judge Kozinski of judicial misconduct. Nor, I would note, does the LA Times item mention the opinion explicitly criticized media reports for misrepresenting Kozinski's conduct.

Our prior posts on the Kozinski kerfuffle are here and here.