This article was originally published 5/5/26 in Seward’s Folly, the author’s personal Substack, under the title “Cleaning Up the Alaska Supreme Court’s Mess.”
By Greg Sarber
The decades-long battle to restore Grand Jury rights in Alaska has gained traction in this election year. It has become a campaign issue with numerous gubernatorial candidates, both Republican and Democrat, publicly discussing how important it is. In addition to the governor’s race, a bill has been introduced in the Alaska Senate, SB270, intended to resolve the major issues. The last bit of good news is that the Supreme Court, which started this whole mess, has asked for input on ways to fix the issue. This should overjoy supporters of Grand Jury reform, but they shouldn’t count their chickens yet. The attention being paid to this issue may fade after the election, and even if some sort of reform is implemented, there is the possibility that all of the proposed fixes will not really address the heart of the problem.
This issue began with the Alaska Supreme Court’s order 6.1 in 1988. That order restricted the grand jury’s power in Alaska. They followed that up with SCO 1993, which was issued in 2022, in the middle of an ongoing Kenai Grand Jury investigation into allegations of judicial misconduct. The courts dismissed the Kenai Grand Jury’s indictment of a retired state judge on a technicality and then sealed the Grand Jury’s public report without additional findings.
Rule 6.1 and SCO 1993 were then used to make sure there would never be another Grand Jury investigation of judicial misconduct. You can find more details about how we got to this place here, or here, or at the Alaska Grand Jurors website.
The actions being taken to resolve this issue should be heartening to defenders of the state Constitution. The Alaska Supreme Court issued orders restricting Grand Jury rights, but realizes that with potential future governors and the legislature now involved, they had better clean up their mess. However, it is hard to be confident in any changes the Alaska Supreme Court makes to Rule 6.1. That rule has been in place for decades, and they like its restrictive nature. It was only when it looked like a solution might be imposed upon them by a future governor or the legislature that they decided to act. Skeptics are not confident in the Supreme Court’s ability to police itself or make any meaningful changes.
The legislature isn’t doing much better. SB270 was introduced this session by Senator Jesse Bjorkman, whom this blog [Seward’s Folly, the author’s Substack] has been a frequent critic of. To give the devil his due, Sen. Bjorkman has contacted and received input on his bill from David Haeg and is considering changes to the bill that Mr. Haeg suggested. The bill might be a worthwhile way to correct Rule 6.1, but it is unfortunately stranded in committee, and with only 2-1/2 weeks left in the current legislative session, it has zero chance of getting passed. This bill may amount to nothing more than a token gesture intended to pacify grand jury supporters, without accomplishing anything. We will have a new governor in the fall before any meaningful solution arrives from the legislature.
Grand Jury supporters might be counting on the new governor to sort the problem out. Some of the Republicans have taken strong positions on this issue. Shelley Hughes and Edna DeVries have given the best responses. Both have pledged to appoint an independent commission to publicly investigate the situation if elected. This should be gratifying to grand jury supporters, but they have to get elected first. With the crowded race for governor, it is hard to say who will win the election, and for some of the candidates who are less than enthusiastic about the issue, the promises they make in April and May might be forgotten when they are sworn in this fall.
We shouldn’t give up hope. One of these three avenues might be successful, but the problem is that they are trying to fix a problem that is not yet fully understood.
The 2022 Kenai Grand Jury indicted a retired state judge, but that was not the focus of their investigation. She was just a bycatch, like a lone salmon in a trawl full of pollock. The Grand Jury was investigating allegations of corruption in the Alaska Judiciary. Allegations that, if true, would be explosive. It is no wonder that when the Jury voted “true bill” on the one indictment of retired Judge Murphy, the state judiciary did everything they could to make it go away and tie the hands of future Grand Juries.
Yes, we need to support all three avenues currently being investigated to solve the Rule 6.1/SCO1993 problem, but there may be bigger issues behind it. We need to find out if there has been a long-term pattern of judicial malfeasance in Alaska. One question that must be answered revolves around the actions of Marla Greenstein, the sole judge investigator of judicial complaints for 37 years. She was the Executive Director of the Alaska Commission on Judicial Conduct, but when subpoenaed by the Kenai Grand Jury, who were looking into allegations of judicial misconduct, Greenstein refused to appear. She investigated complaints against every state judge since 1989. When it comes to judicial malfeasance, what does she know and when did she know it?
We also need to find out why the Kenai Grand Jury Public report was suppressed by presiding judge Thomas Matthews. What did the report contain that was so explosive that he had to hide it from public view? Answers to these questions will only be determined if there is an independent commission appointed by the new governor with subpoena power, who will investigate in public and who can compel testimony from those trying to hide in the judicial shadows.
Yes, the progress being made this election year is heartening, but like Winston Churchill said early in World War II, “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
Greg Sarber is a lifelong Alaskan. He is a petroleum engineer who spent his career working on Alaska’s North Slope. Now retired, he lives with his family in Homer, Alaska. Greg is a former board member of Alaska Gold Communications, Inc., the publisher of Must Read Alaska.
