Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy issued the following statement after today’s decision by the United States Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade:
“I like many Alaskans, am pro life. I also recognize that many Alaskans are pro choice. The recent decision by the Supreme Court returns the issue of abortion back to the states.
“I believe this presents an opportunity for the people of Alaska, not a handful of elected officials or appointed judges, to decide the future of abortion in Alaska.
“I will therefore be introducing a resolution for a proposed constitutional amendment to the legislature in the next session to answer the question whether abortion shall, or not be a constitutionally protected right.
“I have always had faith in the people of Alaska to make the right decision when it comes to our constitution and protecting our fundamental rights and this issue is no different. My position on this issue has been made clear. Alaskans should have the opportunity to make their position clear as well.”
Gov. Mike Dunleavy appointed Akis Gialopsos acting commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources. Outgoing DNR Commissioner Corri Feige announced she was leaving the department earlier this month to spend more time with her family in the Lower-48.
“I know from his time on my staff that Akis Gialopsos has both the management skills, and knowledge of resource development issues to run the department effectively,” Dunleavy said.
Gialopsos currently serves as deputy chief of staff and legislative director for Governor Dunleavy. He was also chief of staff to the president of the Alaska State Senate during the 31st Alaska Legislature. Prior to that, Gialopsos served as the committee aide to the Senate Resources Committee for the 29thand 30th Alaska Legislatures.
Gialopsos is a lifelong Alaskan. Born and raised in Anchorage, he attended Gladys Wood Elementary and Dimond High School, before moving to Greece and receiving his diploma. He studied at the University of Alaska, Anchorage, where he participated in the UAA Speech and Debate Program.
Gialopsos becomes acting commissioner effective July 1, 2022.
Democratic Congressman Charlie Crist, the former Republican governor of Florida who’s running once again as a Democrat hoping to defeat incumbent Gov. Ron DeSantis, said Friday that Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh should be impeached if they lied under oath during their Senate confirmation hearings.
He provided no evidence of either Gorsuch or Kavanaugh lying under oath.
Crist’s call comes after Gorsuch and Kavanaugh joined in a majority U.S. Supreme Court ruling to overturn two landmark abortion cases – Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. The decision returns decisions on the legality of abortion back to the states.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, both Democrats, accused the conservative justices of lying without mentioning them by name.
“Today’s ruling makes clear that Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh lied to Congress when they testified, under oath, that in their view Roe v. Wade was settled precedent,” Crist said in a Facebook post. “Perjury is a crime. If perjury is found to have occurred, the correct remedy is impeachment.”
In a joint statement, Pelosi and Schumer said in part, “Several of these conservative Justices, who are in no way accountable to the American people, have lied to the U.S. Senate, ripped up the Constitution and defiled both precedent and the Supreme Court’s reputation – all at the expense of tens of millions of women who could soon be stripped of their bodily autonomy and the constitutional rights they’ve relied on for half a century.”
Three justices who voted to overturn Roe were appointed by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the U.S. Senate: Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
Trump’s first nominee to the Supreme Court, Gorsuch, “refused to take a position on Roe,” NPR reports. During his confirmation hearing in 2017, Gorsuch replied to a question posed by U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., saying he “would have walked out the door” if Trump had asked him to vote to overturn Roe, NPR points out.
In 2018, Kavanaugh said in his opening remarks that Roe had been “settled as a precedent of the Supreme Court,” and was “entitled the respect under principles of stare decisis.”
Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the majority opinion, was joined by the three justices appointed by Trump and Chief Justice John Roberts. Alito wrote: “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start. Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences. And far from bringing about a national settlement of the abortion issue, Roe and Casey have enflamed debate and deepened division. It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”
He also argued, “a right to abortion is not deeply rooted in the Nation’s history and traditions. On the contrary, an unbroken tradition of prohibiting abortion on pain of criminal punishment persisted from the earliest days of the common law until 1973. …
“Roe’s constitutional analysis was far outside the bounds of any reasonable interpretation of the various constitutional provisions to which it vaguely pointed.”
Trump told Fox News the ruling followed the Constitution, “giving rights back when they should have been given long ago. This brings everything back to the states where it has always belonged.”
Senator Lisa Murkowski said in a statement said she strongly supports a woman’s right to choose an abortion to end a pregnancy. Earlier this year, she introduced the Reproductive Choice Act (S. 3713), which would prevent women’s reproductive choices from being weakened or eliminated and would codify the almost 50 year old Roe v. Wade decision as the law of the land.
Given the Supreme Court’s ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, Sen. Murkowski’s leadership on this issue is now more important than ever, she said in her statement.
“Alaska voters should all see the clear and undeniable fact that Lisa Murkowski is working hard to protect women’s health care. Preserving the right to choose will take bipartisan action and leadership. Senator Murkowski has a proven track record of effectiveness and the seniority to work with her colleagues to reverse today’s dangerous precedent,” said Murkowsi’s campaign spokesperson Shea Siegert.
“Today the Supreme Court went against 50 years of precedent in choosing to overturn Roe v. Wade. The rights under Roe that many women have relied on for decades—most notably a woman’s right to choose—are now gone or threatened in many states,” the senator said.
“Alaskan courts have interpreted abortion rights as protected under our State Constitution, but with this decision, women in other parts of the country will face a different reality that limits their health decisions, even in extreme circumstances,” Murkowski said.
“In the wake of this ruling, it is up to Congress to respond. I introduced legislation in February to protect women’s reproductive rights as provided in Roe, and I am continuing to work with a broader group to restore women’s freedom to control their own health decisions wherever they live. Legislation to accomplish that must be a priority,” she said.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy has appointed Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Jason Brune to the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation’s Board of Trustees.
Brune will replace outgoing DNR Commissioner Corri Feige. Commissioner Brune joined the Dunleavy Administration in December, 2018. He has served in a variety of roles in both the public and private sectors, including one of Alaska’s regional native corporations. The appointment takes effect on July 1, 2022.
Update: The plaintiffs have appealed the ruling to the Alaska Supreme Court.
An Anchorage Superior Court judge on Friday ruled against an attempt by a group associated with the Sweeney for Congress campaign their quest to add Sweeney’s name to the special general election ballot.
Sweeney finished in fifth place in the special primary election for U.S. House. But then the third-place finisher, Al Gross, suddenly dropped out of contention on Monday, leaving just three names on the special general election ballot for Aug. 16: Sarah Palin, Nick Begich, and fourth-place finisher Mary Peltola.
Superior Court Judge William Morse sided with the Division of Elections, whose director said that nowhere in law does it allow a fifth-place finisher to move onto the ballot, just because someone who made the ballot has requested he or she be removed from the ballot. The decision may be appealed to the Supreme Court, but the Division of Elections is on a strict schedule to get the election certified and to get the ballots for the Aug. 16 ballot printed by the time the law requires.
Meanwhile, Gross had thrown his support to both Sweeney and Peltola, both Alaska Natives.
Sweeney is still technically on the regular primary ballot for the U.S. House, along with 29 other people who are still on the ballot, including Palin, Begich and Peltola. The deadline to withdraw from the regular primary is Saturday.
But as of now, just three are in the special election to fill out the remaining term of the late Congressman Don Young.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that prevented states from banning abortion.
The court ruled 6-3 that there is no Constitutional right to an abortion and that it is therefore up to each state to decide how to handle the issue.
“The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; Roe and Casey are overruled; and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives,” a syllabus of the ruling reads.
The high court called the Roe v. Wade ruling “egregiously wrong.”
“Like the infamous decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, Roe was also egregiously wrong and on a collision course with the Constitution from the day it was decided,” the court said. “Casey perpetuated its errors, calling both sides of the national controversy to resolve their debate, but in doing so, Casey necessarily declared a winning side. Those on the losing side – those who sought to advance the State’s interest in fetal life – could no longer seek to persuade their elected representatives to adopt policies consistent with their views. The Court short-circuited the democratic process by closing it to the large number of Americans who disagreed with Roe.”
Several states have already lined up legislation to restrict abortion in anticipation of this ruling.
“Finally, the Court considers whether a right to obtain an abortion is part of a broader entrenched right that is supported by other precedents,” the ruling said. “The Court concludes the right to obtain an abortion cannot be justified as a component of such a right. Attempts to justify abortion through appeals to a broader right to autonomy and to define one’s ‘concept of existence’ prove too much.”
The case in question began with a legal challenge to a Mississippi law banning abortions after 15 weeks. Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch last year requested that the Supreme Court use that case to overturn Roe v. Wade.
The ruling comes after the court last year allowed a Texas law to stand that banned abortions after six weeks, when a baby’s heartbeat is detectable.
A leak from the Supreme Court earlier this year that indicated Roe v. Wade could be overturned sparked controversy and led to protests outside multiple Justices’ homes and a failed assassination attempt against Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Fencing and barricades were erected around the court, and law enforcement presence increased after the leak. Demonstrators on both sides gathered outside the court all week along with law enforcement in anticipation of the ruling.
Pro-life advocates celebrated the ruling.
“Laws across the country can now affirm that life is a human right and ensure women have greater access to the support and resources they need and deserve,” Alliance Defending Freedom General Counsel Kristen Waggoner said.
Now, the energy on abortion will likely ramp up at the state level, where each state government can now decide how to handle the controversial issue.
“We now turn to the states to ensure that unborn children and their mothers are protected from the gruesome reality of abortion, and that they receive the care and resources they need to flourish,” Waggoner said. “Mississippi asked the court to overturn Roe because that case was egregiously wrong and had no basis in constitutional text, structure, or history. Additionally, Roe’s changing standards have long been unworkable, which is why so many pro-life laws ended up in court. It also failed to account for changing science, which demonstrates that life begins at conception. Today is a day of celebration, but the battle continues, as states either respect or shirk their responsibility to protect the life and health of women and children.”
The Alaska Department of Law is reviewing Tuesday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision in Carson v. Makin for any impact on Alaska law.
In a 6-3 ruling, the Court held that a Maine law violated the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause by permitting public funds to be spent for tuition assistance at private nonsectarian schools, but not at private religious schools.
As the court has leaned more conservative, it has begun to side with parents and religious institutions that have challenged “Blaine Amendment” state policies prohibiting them from receiving education-related funds that were available for government schools.
The court’s three leftist justices dissented from the majority. Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the decision “upended constitutional doctrine” and she has a “growing concern for where this Court will lead us next.”
The Supreme Court’s ruling explained that states “need not subsidize private education,” but if they choose to do so, they cannot categorically exclude otherwise eligible schools on the basis of religious exercise.
“The question on Alaskans’ minds is what does this mean for our own state constitution’s prohibition on spending public funds on a private education?” said Deputy Attorney General Cori Mills. “Initially, what we know is that the specific facts of this case are not directly on point for Alaska. The case involved discriminating against religious schools compared to other private schools. Our constitution distinguishes between a private and a public education. However, the details matter, and we will need to fully review and evaluate the opinion to determine what, if any, impact it has,” Mills said.
Alaska does not have a private school tuition program directly analogous to the Maine law at issue in Carson. Article VII, section 1 of Alaska’s Constitution provides that public funds shall not be used “for the direct benefit of any religious or other private educational institution.”
“We know that Alaska’s public correspondence school program has been in the news recently, but that is a separate issue from the broader potential impacts of this Supreme Court case, which is focused on the religious versus non-religious distinction,” Mills clarified. “The department is still reviewing the administration of Alaska’s correspondence school program under state law and will separately be looking at the broader questions raised by this case,” she said.
Alaska, by statute, provides that “a correspondence study program may provide an annual student allotment to a parent or guardian” and that this allotment may be used “to purchase nonsectarian services and materials from a public, private, or religious organization” provided certain criteria are met.
Sen. Dan Sullivan has parted ways with Sen. Lisa Murkowski on the gun control legislation being pushed by Senate Democrats and a handful of Republicans.
Murkowski voted yes on cloture on the bill, ending debate, and Sullivan voted no. The measure has the votes to pass now that the debate portion of bill-making is over.
“One of my top priorities as a U.S. Senator has been to work with my colleagues on vitally-needed solutions to address the mental health crisis, especially among young Americans, that is unfolding across our nation,” Sullivan said.
“This is a challenge that is clearly at the heart of the recent horrific shootings. This is where our focus should be, and this legislation represents a good start in that regard. The authors of this legislation included provisions that I believe could help address mental health challenges. As a cosponsor of the STOP School Violence Act, enacted in 2018, I was also pleased to see significant funding included to improve school safety,” he said.
“However, the right to keep and bear arms is fundamental and guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, and I have repeatedly committed to Alaskans that I will not support any legislation that infringes on that right. In that regard, I have serious concerns about the broad discretion this legislation leaves up to federal courts and Biden administration officials as it relates to the implementation and interpretation of the bill’s vaguely defined firearms restrictions and due process provisions. Alaska is unique. Alaskans use firearms for protection, hunting, subsistence, and recreation—and we take any infringement on our Second Amendment rights very seriously.”
