On Friday, December 11, 2026, Alaskans from every corner of the state are invited to stand together in downtown Anchorage. From noon to 6 p.m., the Alaska Grand Jurors Association will hold a peaceful citizen assembly at the Atwood Building, 550 West 7th Avenue, home of the Governor’s Anchorage office.
The timing is deliberate. The assembly begins right after Alaska’s new Governor is sworn in. The first message our new Governor hears from the people should be a clear one: Alaskans want answers, and we want them in public.
What we are asking for
The assembly has two requests. First, we will petition the new Governor to appoint an independent commission to publicly investigate systemic problems in Alaska’s judicial system. Second, we will ask for the release of the sealed Alaska Grand Jury recommendation, made after the grand jury’s two-year investigation into suspected judicial corruption.
Those jurors were ordinary Alaskans. They gave two years of their lives to hear evidence and make a recommendation on a matter of great public concern. Their work should not sit in a sealed file. The people who pay for our courts, and who rely on them for justice, deserve to read it.
This power belongs to the people
When Alaskans wrote our state constitution in 1955 and 1956, they gave grand juries a power many states do not. Article I, Section 8 states that the grand jury’s power to investigate and make recommendations “SHALL NEVER BE SUSPENDED.” The delegates wanted citizens, not just officials, to be able to look into suspected government misconduct.
Alaska grand juries have used that power for more than a century. In 1954, a Ketchikan grand jury looked into law enforcement corruption. Its recommendation led to the indictment of the police chief, a police captain, and the United States Attorney. In 1985, a Juneau grand jury spent ten weeks hearing more than 40 witnesses about a $10,000,000 state office lease. It recommended that the Legislature impeach the sitting Governor, William Sheffield, for steering this lease to a campaign contributor.
Grand juries in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Bethel, Barrow, and Kenai have also examined jails, police practices, campus safety, and official misconduct. That is how the system should work: citizens look and recommend, and the public decides.
Why your presence matters
A petition with a few signatures is easy to set aside. A crowd of hundreds of Alaskans standing peacefully outside the Governor’s office on the first day of a new administration is not. Numbers are the message.
So we are asking you to come, and to bring people with you. Bring your family, your friends, and your neighbors. Bring your church group, your coworkers, your hunting partners, and the people you sit next to at Fur Rondy. Organize a carpool from Wasilla, Palmer, Eagle River, Homer, or Soldotna and make a day of it in Anchorage. Fly into Anchorage from a remote town or village to shop for Christmas? The day before December 11 would be perfect. Come for an hour on your lunch break, or stay the whole afternoon.
You don’t need to be a lawyer, an activist, or a former juror. You only need to care whether Alaska’s courts are fair and whether the public has the right to know what its own grand jury found.
Food, drink, and a welcome
Food and drinks will be available at the assembly, and some will be provided at no cost, so you can stay as long as you are able. December in Anchorage is cold: dress warmly, wear good boots, a hat, and mittens, and bring a thermos if you like.
This is a peaceful, lawful, constitutionally protected assembly. All Alaskans are welcome, whatever their politics. This is not about your party, even if you dearly love partying! It is about whether the courts answer to the people they serve.
Use the links below to RSVP, sign up for updates, or read a “Timeline” of how and why our grand juries have been attacked:
Questions: David Haeg, (907) 398-6403 or [email protected]
Our grand jury. Our constitution. Our right to know. We will see you on December 11.
