Alaska Judicial Council holds public hearing on Supreme Court vacancy, applicants

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The Alaska Judicial Council will hold a public hearing on Monday, Dec. 5, at 12:30 pm to take public comments on the applicants for an Alaska Supreme Court judicial vacancy.

Members of the public can participate in person at the Boney Courthouse, Supreme Court Courtroom, 303 K Street, Anchorage, or by calling 1-833-928-4610, meeting ID 844 6481 1777

The council is meeting Monday and Tuesday to interview, discuss, and nominate the most qualified applicants for the vacancy due to the forthcoming retirement of Chief Justice Daniel E. Winfree. The position is for justice, while the next chief justice is selected by other members of the Supreme Court for a three-year position.

The council usually recommends two or more names to the governor, who picks one. The governor has very little choice in the matter and often is only given two names by the council, which by design in the Alaska Constitution is dominated by the Alaska Bar Association.

Candidates to be interviewed on Monday include:

  • Jude Pate
  • Paul Roetman
  • Aimee Oravec
  • Dani Crosby
  • Margaret Paton Walsh

19 COMMENTS

  1. Like anyone on the Alaska Judicial Council would ever listen to any of us conservatives.
    Elite lefty lawyers destroying our state one bad decision at a time, like only putting forward other lefty lawyers and our governor has no choice but to select a lefty.

    • Gee where is your Dave Parker at there Molly?
      Who was he protecting by “keeping foxes out of the henhouse” there Molly? Forensic audits due.

    • Please explain why he is most qualified. Please explain why the others on the list are not most qualified. Part of the problem for me, is that I don’t know the judges, and I don’t know where do we even begin looking to find out whether they promote justice, or whether they distort justice.

      • He’s the most conservative of the candidates and won’t obfuscate the law in favor of so-called entitlements, racial quotas and sexual perversion.

  2. If Dunleavy had a spine — yeah, I know, ha ha! —- he would simply refuse to approve, or even acknowledge, ANY of the far-leftist choices by the so-called Alaska Judicial Council, aka Alaska Bar Association, aka far-left radical extremist lawfare activists.
    One can dream, anyway.

    • Dream on Jeff… Your irrelevant dig at the Tall Man is not appreciated. Were you one of those thoughtless folks who voted “no” on the ConCon? Governor Mike has no choice.

      • No, Rich, I voted “yes” for the Constitutional Convention.
        .
        And you are wrong, Dunleavy DOES have a choice here — a choice that, were he to make it, would send waves through the political establishment and the electorate of this state. But making waves is precisely NOT what our feckless, spineless governor is all about — it is surrender, and accommodation, and ‘compromise’ at every turn.

    • If memory serves Bill Walker tried that and it did not end well for him either. I seem to recall that he was not pleased with the selectees and demanded a new slate, only to end up with picking an original one anyway. Since he was on the “progressive side of things” they didn’t get a re-call petition started when he did not timely appoint the jurists. This is a constitutional issue and will require an initiative to get rid of this Albatross.

  3. Why are they holding a public hearing? They’re lawyers picking lawyers and they’re gonna do what a lawyer does, obfuscate and do what they want. Our system is rigged from the days of statehood and is nothing more than a lawyers benevolent/employment association, public be damned.

  4. Smoke and mirrors. The dudes what make the decision on this vacancy already know who will fill the chair.
    All this public stuff is for grins and giggles

    Which one of these esteemed candidates is anywhere close to being a conservative. ZIPPO…. Believe me, there are a couple of good, honest, credible members of AJC who do fight for Alaskans. They are Alaskans to the core. The other members of AJC who lean or are flat on the floor liberal are members of the elitist legal caverns. — BMer owners, top of the line foot ware with no socks, and lots of Dall sheep head Rolex’s with maybe a tattoo or two thrown in on the left arm.

  5. Problem with refusing is he would very likely once again face a recall for refusing to follow the constitution. I know, there would have to be enough signatures. But it would be very distracting for him and maybe have adverse impacts on his agenda.
    But something needs to be done. Restricting his choices to only far left judicial applicants has bad consequences down the road. It’s a shame that the Constitutional Convention was not passed.

  6. What a racket.
    .
    All the public needs to know is the Alaska Bar Association effectively own and operate on-third of Alaska’s state government, the Judiciary Branch. The racket has its very own Council composed of Chief Justice Daniel Winfree, Lynne Gallant, Geraldine Simon, Dave Parker, Jonathon Katcher, Kristie Babcock, Patricia Collins, accountable to no one but themselves for what they do.
    .
    Alaska’s Executive and Legislative branches, who make up the other two-thirds of Alaska’s state government, could upset that racket by prohibiting and defunding secret Judicial Council sessions, proposing a constitutional amendment deleting the phrase: “… by appointing one of two or more persons nominated by the judicial council.” from Article 4, Section 5, challenging the constitutionality of the secret selection process. What a can of worms that would open. They could enact a resolution refusing to select candidates secretly vetted by the Judicial Council.
    .
    But they won’t. In the ultimate perversion of America’s historical government checks-and-balances, Alaska’s judiciary appears to have assumed a critical role in assuring Alaska’s ship of state never capsizes from an accidental free-surface effect to the Right.

    • @Morrigan thank you for your succinct description of the agency that single-handedly is responsible for the judicial corruption that has oozed down from the Alaska Supreme Court. The Alaska Judicial Council’s master is their fellow union members in the ABA who they serve conscientiously. The public is a minor legal annoyance that the Supreme Court and the Judicial Council steadfastly ignore in their selection of judges.
      Alaska has no such state statute, but the actions of the judges and attorneys of the ABA union, as well as the Alaska Judicial Council meet the five requirements of racketeering that a prosecutor needs to open a racketeering case into the Alaska Judicial system under the RICO statutes. There is indisputable evidence of racketeering by Alaska’s courts. The State AG continues to ignore requests for an investigation.
      Vetting by the AJC of judicial candidates is non-existent. Yesterday, I attended this so-called 12-5-22 public hearing for the new S.C. What a farce. No effort is made to involve the public in the star chamber like appointment of judges.

      • Thank you, Mark.
        .
        A website explaining objective options for prosecuting judicial misconduct may be seen at //corruptjudge.webs.com/.

  7. The ONLY practical way to reform the selection of Alaska’s judges is through a constitutional amendment vote by the people. This only requires a 50% minimum vote. We have learned from this year’s debate on the ten year vote Yes or No on convening a Constitutional Convention that AT ANY TIME, the legislature can convene one, again by simple majority vote. It does not require a 2/3 majority. We do not have to wait another ten years.

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