On Friday, Governor Mike Dunleavy introduced a judicial selection amendment to give future governors more significant influence over judicial appointments. If the legislature approves the measure, voters will decide in 2026 whether to limit the Alaska Judicial Council’s role in selecting judges.
The Alaska Judicial Council reviews applications and selects the most qualified candidates for judicial vacancies before sending a shortlist to the governor. The council includes three appointed public members and three Alaska Bar Association members.
If a tie occurs during selection, the Alaska Supreme Court chief justice Casts the deciding vote. Dunleavy’s proposal would require the council to submit every applicant who meets the constitutional minimum requirements, removing merit-based shortlists.
The governor’s office stated that the amendment would compel the council to send all prospective judge candidates to the governor for selection. No legislative hearings have been scheduled on the proposal lawmakers received on Friday.
Dunleavy has previously expressed dissatisfaction with the current judicial selection process. In 2019, he violated state law by delaying his selection for a Palmer Superior Court vacancy. He later chose a judge, but failing to follow the process became one of three reasons for an unsuccessful recall effort against him.
In 2021, Dunleavy requested additional options for an Alaska Supreme Court vacancy, but the Judicial Council refused to expand the list. The following year, conservative Republicans made judicial selection a central issue in their campaign to amend the state constitution.
They argued that the Judicial Council held too much power, preventing conservative-leaning judges from being appointed. That year, voters rejected a constitutional convention that could have changed the judicial selection process by a margin of more than 2-to-1. Dunleavy hopes to achieve similar reforms with this new amendment, giving future governors more control over court appointments.
This news article was originally published by Alaska Beacon.
