Did you know a small, close-knit group of hard Leftists firmly control one-third of Alaska’s government? They operate under the name Alaska Bar Association, and they’re more powerful than the governor, legislature, and certainly the people.  

Here’s a perfect example: Alaskans overwhelmingly voted in 2010 for a citizen’s led initiative requiring at least one parent to be notified before their child under the age of 17 gets an abortion. The measure passed by a 56-to-43 margin.

The idea of a 13-year old girl having a major medical procedure like abortion without a parent’s knowledge was too terrifying a proposition for most sane Alaska voters. There was even a judicial overview provision in the law for the teen in case her pregnancy was a result of sex abuse by the father. The girl could first talk to a neighbor or school counselor and get an exemption from parental notification if her father was involved in the pregnancy.  

The parental notification law was in place between 2011 and 2016. During that time, abortions for girls under the age of 17 dropped dramatically. The law saved lives.   

But by 2016, Planned Parenthood had successfully challenged the parental notification law before the Alaska Supreme Court. Planned Parenthood operates four baby killing clinics in Alaska. The more dead babies, the healthier the bottom line for Planned Parenthood. It’s an organization responsible for the slaughter of close to 9 million American kids living defenselessly in their mother’s womb. Planned Parenthood has killed 3 million more babies and counting than Hitler murdered in the Holocaust.  

The Alaska Supreme Court members with blood on their hands voting to overturn the parental notification law and the will of the people were then Chief Justice Dana Fabe, Justices Daniel Winfree, Peter Maasen, and current Chief Justice Joel Bolger. Justice Craig Stowers was the lone dissenter. 

The most powerful people in government today are Leftist judges viewing themselves as “super legislators.” They have no regard for the rule of law or the constitution. In fact, most of them hate the Constitution and see it as the largest hurdle to ushering in their radical agenda. These Leftist judges rule based on their own personal political proclivities and leanings. They are in the truest sense of the word, tyrants.

The safeguard against loading the courts with Leftist judges in the federal system is to elect conservative politicians who will then appoint like-minded judges. Conservatives are fond of how our founding fathers set things up and they respect the constitution. When a law comes before a conservative judge, they typically call balls and strikes and rule based on whether it fits within the parameters laid out in the constitution. Leftist judges, on the other hand, approve the law if they like it personally. 

Yet, Alaska courts are currently loaded with Leftist judges because we pick them very differently than the federal system.

The Alaska Judicial Council will forward at least two names to the governor when there’s an opening on the bench. The governor must then pick from those names. 

The Judicial Council is made up of three public members appointed by the governor and three other members appointed by The Alaska Bar Association. The deciding vote on which names are forwarded belongs to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. 

Lawyers have a stranglehold on the judicial branch, which makes up one-third of state government. But really the judicial branch is more powerful than the other two branches because Leftist judges like Bolger place themselves above the law. As was the case with the parental notification law, Bolger and his colleagues ruled based on what they thought was best. It’s as if they are kings and queens. 

You would be hard-pressed to find an organization more liberal than the Alaska Bar Association. How could anyone believe allowing this group to determine who sits on the bench in Alaska is a good idea? 

Shockingly, the Anchorage Daily News wrote a column over the weekend praising the way we pick judges in Alaska. It was written by the editorial board made up of Ryan Binkley, Andy Pennington, and Tom Hewitt.

Of course, Binkley, Pennington, and Hewitt like the current set up. The courts in Alaska are loaded with Leftist judicial activists. The ADN editorial board described the federal system as too political and absurdly issued moral equivalency to both Democrats and Republicans with the way they handle U.S. Supreme Court nominees.

“…in recent years, the process for selecting and confirming Supreme Court justices has become the bitterest political fight in Washington, D.C., with both parties willing to go to virtually any length to ensure or obstruct the seating of a nominee,” wrote Binkley, Pennington, and Hewitt. 

This is the type of subtle deception the ADN frequently traffics in. The Democrats have been vicious in their attempts to assassinate the character of conservative nominees dating back to Robert Bork in 1987, Clarence Thomas in 1991, and Brett Kavanaugh in 2018. Expect more viciousness with Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination this year. There has been no such attempt at destroying the reputations of liberal nominees by Republicans. 

For the ADN to argue Republicans have been as bad as Democrats on manufacturing scandals and speciously slandering nominees proves once again not much you read in Alaska’s largest newspaper can be trusted. 

Fortunately, Americans have a safeguard against tyrant federal judges thwarting their will on the public: Elect a conservative president and senate.  

But in Alaska, we have no way of blocking the nomination of Leftists like Bolger and other tyrants sitting on the Alaska Supreme Court. We can vote not to retain them after their term ends, but the damage has been done by then. 

Our governor must choose from a list handed to him from liberal trial lawyers. It’s rare conservative justices ever make it on the list. If we are ever to see real reform in Alaska we’ll first have to wrestle back one-third of state government, the judicial branch, from the Alaska Bar Association.

Even a system where judges are elected is preferable to the way Alaska currently fills vacancies on the bench. The problem with the system of elected judges is trial lawyers fund liberal candidates, while insurance companies and businesses fund conservative judicial campaigns. But at least with electing judges the people have a say instead of a handful of trial lawyers as is the case now. 

The most preferable way to pick judges is the system employed by the federal government. The elected governor nominates and an elected senate must confirm. That way the judicial branch of the government reflects the political leanings of the electorate. As it stands, the liberal Alaska Bar Association has too much power in controlling the judicial branch in Alaska.  

Dan Fagan hosts the number one rated morning drive talk show, weekdays on Newsradio 650 KENI. Dan splits his time between Anchorage and New Orleans.