Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy appointed Superior Court Judge Jude Pate of Sitka to the Alaska Supreme Court. Judge Pate was selected from a list of individuals nominated by the Alaska Judicial Council.
Pate has been an Alaska resident for 29 years and has practiced law for 28 years. He graduated from Lewis & Clark Northwestern School of Law in 1993 and is currently a superior court judge in Sitka. Judge Pate fills the vacancy created by Chief Justice Dan Winfree’s retirement.
Pate was appointed to the Superior Court by Alaska Governor Bill Walker, who served one term as Alaska’s 11th governor. Pate was born in Nuremberg, Germany, to a U.S. Army family. He was raised in Kansas and in Europe and moved to Sitka in 1993 after graduating from law school. He worked as the legal counsel for the Sitka Tribe of Alaska, and also was in private practice. Pate served as an assistant public defender in Sitka for 12 years.
The Alaska Judicial Council in December forwarded to Gov. Mike Dunleavy its four nominees for the vacancy.
The lawyers selected by the council were Anchorage Superior Court Judge Dani Crosby, Department of Law attorney Kate Demarest, Fairbanks attorney Aimee Oravec, and Pate.
Dani Crosby: An Alaska resident for more than 36 years who has practiced law for more than 26 years, she graduated from Gonzaga University School of Law in 1996 and is a Superior Court judge in Anchorage.
Kate Demarest: An Alaska resident for over 12 years who has practiced law for 14 years, she graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School in 2008 and is a senior assistant attorney general in the Opinions, Appeals, and Ethics section at the Department of Law in Anchorage.
Aimee A. Oravec: An Alaska resident for over 23 years who has practiced law for 24 years, she graduated from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law in 1998 and is currently general counsel for Doyon Utilities, LLC.
Jude Pate: An Alaska resident for over 29 years, he has practiced law for more than 28 years. Pate graduated from Lewis and Clark Northwestern School of Law in 1993 and is a superior court judge in Sitka.
The council voted unanimously for Oravec and Crosby. Pate and Demarest were advanced with a 5-1 vote, with member Kristie Babcock voting no on Demarest and member Geraldine Simon voting no on Pate.
The Alaska Judicial Council is a commission created by the Alaska Constitution comprised of three Alaska Bar Association attorneys, three non-attorneys, and the Chief Justice of the Alaska Supreme Court. The governor is required by law to choose a justice from the names the council forwards to him.
Doesn’t read like such a bad choice. Only hope that he takes the oath of office very seriously.
Since the Highly partisan Judicial Council chose Mr. Pate unanimously, I can only presume from that action that he is a far-left extremist like the rest of them.
Reread Suzanne’s article.
From the article above, “Pate and Demarest were advanced with a 5-1 vote, with member Kristie Babcock voting no on Demarest and member Geraldine Simon voting no on Pate.” 5-1 isn’t unanimous, last time I checked. It’s probably fair to assume he leans left, but if Kristie Babcock voted for him he probably isn’t as far left as Kate Demarest. I don’t know anything about Geraldine Simon or why she would vote against Pate.
What was Dave Parker doing there? He seemed worried about foxes getting in the henhouse. His words. My question is what was he try to protect?
Or was he blackballing someone specific? Who sent him to do that? And why would they do that?
There must be money involved. Whose money?
Russian money. Ogliarch (s) in Alaska. They have had politicians covering their asses while they do what they want until the courts say they can’t. Welp. How’s the seizing of assets working for you? Tick tock boys…
And trying to kill the reason why Russia exhumed graves in Russia and Jerusalem.
That one is in Alaska. “Why are you here?”
Funds of that one are in Alaska as well. Should I say someone needs to notify that one? Because I hear from legal sources, if they don’t, then the world will be educated.
Ding dang dong that social media blitz.
You won’t be able to run or hide there folks!
Pate is Great!
Shouldn’t your organization be renamed “Birthing Persons Against Drunk Driving”?
We are the only state in the union that has such a corrupt way of choosing supreme court judges this state is in real trouble with the powers stripped from the grand jury which is against the the Alaska constitution with reps pushed into the minority and all reps not bonded as the law requires with Dunleavy not being accountable to voters and pushing a WEF type agenda with carbon credits in place of becoming competitive in the gas oil and timber market resources we already have up and running that the world wants unlike carbon credits how in the world could the Supreme Court take this action against the grand jury and who will hold the Supreme Court accountable WHO?
Wow, that is impressive! That is quite the run on sentence covering so many subjects that are in no way connected.
Geezus. Stand a little closer to grammar and clear writing. That is pitiful.
We should be proud of the manner in which Good job, Big Mike.
Our constitutional founders took meaningful measures to strip political influence from our judges. Thank you for honoring that.
In other parts of America, judges are elected by a majority of voters. Would you prefer the majority – who elected Lisa and Mary to also place our lifetime judges?
One thing is for sure. Jude Pate is passionate. He once represented a tribe on a lawsuit against one of the tribe’s members in: State court. So, I guess, for Jude Pate, State law is the prevailing justice system for Alaska tribes to settle tribal matters in the State of Alaska.
It seems Governor Dunleavy is appointing a person to the Alaska Supreme Court who doesn’t respect or advocate for tribal sovereignty in Alaska. But, it’s a State court system and although Pate doesn’t seem to understand or respect the jurisdiction of the State regarding Tribal governance, the Federal system has proven to be hands off when dealing with Tribal disputes, which is the correct course as Tribal governments capacity increases over time. Jude Pate earned the respect of the Elder tribal folks he dealt with as he practiced his craft. He’s a good choice and will make a great State Supreme Court Judge. Congrat!
(sorry for my fat fingers; corrected comment below)
We should be proud of the manner in which
our constitutional founders took meaningful measures to strip political influence from appointing our judges. Thank you for honoring that, and good job, Big Mike.
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