Timothy Mark Burgess, the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska, is retiring. He was nominated to the court by President George W. Bush, and has served as the chief judge since 2015.
The U.S. District Court has three judges. Judge Sharon Gleason is a President Barack Obama appointee, and Judge Joshua Kincaid was appointed by President Donald Trump. Burgess was appointed by President George W. Bush. With his departure and an appointment to be made by President Biden, Alaska’s federal court will tilt left. Already, the senior member, Judge Gleason, is responsible for multiple decisions that have decimated Alaska’s energy-based economy in favor of the anti-development industry.
Burgess was born in California and graduated from Canada College with an associate’s degree in 1976. Later he earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, and a master’s in business administration, before pursuing his law degree at Northeastern University Law School.
He was in private practice from 1987 to 1989, and then was named Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Alaska from 1989 to 2001.
He was appointed to the court in 2005 by President Bush upon the recommendation of the late Sen. Ted Stevens and then-Sen. Frank Murkowski, and was confirmed in 2006.
Also on the court, on senior status as semi-retired, are Judges H. Russel Holland, James K. Singleton, John W. Sedwick, and Ralph R. Beistline.
