« Environment - Several recent environmental stories | Main | Ind. Law - It's the Law: "Golf carts limited to city, town streets" »
Monday, September 14, 2009
Courts - "Lawsuit challenging Alaska judge choice tossed"; system similar to Indiana's
Lisa Demer reported Sept. 11th in the Anchorage Daily News Some quotes:
A lawsuit challenging how Alaska chooses its judges was thrown out of federal court Friday.U.S. District Judge John Sedwick issued a brief order from the bench dismissing the suit. He said a written order would follow, likely next week.
The lawsuit claimed lawyers have too much say in picking Alaska judges. It was brought on behalf of Kenneth Kirk, an Anchorage lawyer who has applied for judgeships but never been nominated, as well as two other Alaskans, Michael Miller and Carl Ekstrom, who contend they don't get enough say in the matter.
The state countered that lawyers deserve an elevated role because of their special knowledge and that there's no requirement for judges to be elected or for those involved in selecting judicial candidates to be elected.
Under a system modeled after Missouri's and adopted after the constitutional convention more than 50 years ago, the Alaska Judicial Council nominates at least two candidates from a list of applicants for each open judgeship. The governor makes the appointment from those nominated.
Judges then are listed periodically on the election ballot and either retained or thrown out by voters.
The Alaska Judicial Council includes three lawyers appointed by the Alaska Bar Association board of governors; three non-lawyers appointed by the governor; and the chief justice of the state Supreme Court, currently Walter Carpeneti. * * *
The lead lawyer for the plaintiffs was James Bopp of Indiana, general counsel for the James Madison Center for Free Speech. He has expertise in election law but is also general counsel for the National Right to Life Committee and has made abortion cases a key element of his practice. He has said that Alaska court decisions on abortion were not a factor in filing the lawsuit.
Bopp argued that lawyers on the council shouldn't be able to nominate judicial candidates unless they themselves are appointed to the Judicial Council by someone who is elected, such as the governor, or unless the Alaska Bar Association changes its board to one that is elected.
There's no proof that lawyers are better at choosing judges than everyone else, yet they have a special privilege, he said. Bopp told Sedwick that if his side loses, the bar association could "flat out select all the judges," amassing power like Iranian mullahs.
[Judge] Sedwick rejected Bopp's hyperbole and told him to stick to what the law actually says.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 14, 2009 02:00 PM
Posted to Courts in general