Courts in Alaska

More information on Alaska's state courts:
Selection methods Elections Salaries Federal courts

Courts in Alaska include a state court system, one federal district court, and approximately 79 Native American tribal courts.

Alaska's court system is a "unified, centrally administered, and totally state-funded" system. The Alaska Supreme Court and Alaska Court of Appeals are the state's appellate courts; the superior courts and district courts serve as trial courts.

Click a link for information about that court type.

• Federal courts
• State supreme court
• State court of appeals
• Trial courts

The image below depicts the flow of cases through Alaska's state court system. Cases typically originate in the trial courts and can be appealed to courts higher up in the system.

The structure of Alaska's state court system.

Judicial selection process

See also: Judicial selection in Alaska

For the purposes of judicial elections, Alaska is divided into four judicial districts. Selection of the state court judges in Alaska relies on what is known as the Missouri Plan or merit selection. Sixteen other states and Washington, D.C. use a similar method of judicial selection, though Alaska is unusual because it has one judicial council for all courts and all districts statewide.

Across the state's appellate and trial courts, there are five supreme court justices, four court of appeals judges, and 40 superior court judges.

Judges on the Alaska Supreme Court, Alaska Court of Appeals, and Alaska Superior Courts serve an initial term of three years, after which they must stand for retention. Subsequent terms are ten years for the supreme court, eight years for the court of appeals, and six years for superior court judges. District court judges are appointed to an initial term of two years, after which they must stand for retention. Subsequent terms for judges on the Alaska District Courts are four years in length.

Under the Alaska Statutes, judicial terms following retention begin and end 90 days following the retention election.

Federal courts

The federal district court in Alaska is the United States District Court for the District of Alaska.

Appeals from this district go to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

Active judges

Judge	Appointed By	Assumed Office	Bachelors	Law
Sharon L. Gleason	Barack Obama (D)	January 4, 2012 -	Washington University, St. Louis, 1979	University of California, Davis School of Law, 1983

The list below displays the number of active judges by the party of the appointing president. It does not reflect how a judge may rule on specific cases or their own political preferences.

• Democratic appointed: 1
• Republican appointed: 0

Judicial selection

Judges who sit on the federal district courts are nominated by the president of the United States and confirmed by the United States Senate. These judges serve life terms. To read more about the judges on these courts, click here.

Bankruptcy courts

There is one federal bankruptcy court in Alaska. This court has subject-matter jurisdiction over bankruptcy cases. The federal bankruptcy court in Alaska is:

• United States bankruptcy court, District of Alaska

State supreme court

See also: Alaska Supreme Court

Founded in 1959, the Alaska Supreme Court is the court of last resort in Alaska. The Supreme Court hears appeals from lower courts and administers the state's judicial system. It has final appellate jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters. The current chief of the court is Susan Carney.

The Supreme Court has jurisdiction to review the decisions reached by lower courts within the state. The court is required to accept appeals from previous decisions made by any Alaska Superior Court judge regarding civil issues, including cases that originated in administrative agencies and from district courts. The court has the option to hear appeals for criminal cases or petitions. In order for a criminal appeal to be heard, the appropriate appeals court must certify that the case involves a significant question of constitutional law, or it must be an issue of substantial public interest. The Supreme Court may choose whether or not to accept petitions of hearing from the lower courts on civil or criminal matters.

The Court also has a supervisory role over the other courts in the state and is charged with making rules governing administration, practice, and procedure in all courts.

The court hears cases on a monthly basis in Anchorage, approximately quarterly in Fairbanks and Juneau, and as needed in other Alaska communities. The court prefers to hear oral arguments in the city where the case was heard by the trial court.

The table below lists the current judges of the Alaska Supreme Court and the appointing governor.

Office	Name	Party	Date assumed office	Appointed by
Alaska Supreme Court	Dario Borghesan	Nonpartisan	July 1, 2020	Mike Dunleavy (R)
Alaska Supreme Court	Susan Carney	Nonpartisan	May 12, 2016	Bill Walker
Alaska Supreme Court	Jennifer S. Henderson	Nonpartisan	July 21, 2021	Mike Dunleavy (R)
Alaska Supreme Court	Aimee Oravec	Nonpartisan	January 31, 2025	Mike Dunleavy (R)
Alaska Supreme Court	Jude Pate	Nonpartisan	March 22, 2023	Mike Dunleavy (R)

State court of appeals

See also: Alaska Court of Appeals

The Court of Appeals was created in 1980 by the Alaska Legislature. The Court of Appeals' jurisdiction includes hearing criminal prosecutions, post-conviction relief, juvenile delinquency proceedings, extradition proceedings, habeas corpus appeals, probation and parole appeals, bail proceedings, and sentencing appeals. The court must accept appeals from final decisions by the Superior Court or the District Court in criminal cases, including merits and sentence appeals.

The court has the discretion to accept petitions for review of non-final orders from the Superior or District Courts, petitions for hearing of final appellate decisions of the Superior Court on review of the District Court's rulings, and original applications in matters where relief cannot be obtained from the court through other procedures.

The following judges currently sit on the court:

Judge	Tenure	Appointed By
Tracey Wollenberg	February 9, 2017 - Present	Bill Walker
Bethany Spalding Harbison	2019 - Present	Bill Walker
Marjorie Katharine Allard	November 23, 2012 - Present	Sean Parnell
Timothy Terrell	December 18, 2020 - Present	Mike Dunleavy

Trial courts

Alaska Superior Court

See also: Alaska Superior Court

These courts have general jurisdiction. The court is assigned 45 judges who have the authority to hear all cases—criminal or otherwise—excepting cases that might be brought in front of a district court (superior courts rarely hear these).

The court:

• is a trial court for both criminal and civil cases;
• serves as an appellate court for civil and criminal cases which have been tried in the District Court;
• hears cases involving children who have committed crimes (juvenile delinquency) or who are abused or neglected (child in need of aid);
• hears cases involving the property of deceased or incompetent persons;
• hears cases involving the involuntary commitment of persons to institutions for the mentally ill;
• handles domestic relations matters; and
• handles guardianships and conservatorships.

Alaska District Courts

See also: Alaska District Courts

These courts have limited jurisdiction. The district courts have 20 judges, and they routinely hear the following types of cases:

• state misdemeanors and violations of city and borough ordinances;
• first appearances and preliminary hearings in felony cases;
• civil cases valued up to $100,000 per defendant;
• small claims cases ($10,000 maximum for most cases; $20,000 for wage claims brought by the Department of Labor);
• cases involving children on an emergency basis;
• domestic violence cases;
• inquests and presumptive death hearings.

District courts also perform the following duties:

• issue summonses, arrest warrants and search warrants;
• record vital statistics (in some areas of the state)

There are four judicial districts in Alaska with 20 district court judges serving in three out of four of the judicial districts. The map below shows each of those circuits by county.

Alaska District Courts

Tribal courts

There are approximately 79 Native American Tribal Courts in Alaska.

In other states

Click the map below to explore the court structure in other states.

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See also

• Judicial selection in Alaska
• Alaska judicial elections

External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• Alaska Supreme Court
• Alaska Court of Appeals
• Alaska state appellate courts
• Alaska state trial courts
• United States District Court for the District of Alaska
• U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Alaska
• MegaLaw, "Guide to courts in Alaska"

Footnotes

Alaska courts

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Federal courts:

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of Alaska • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of Alaska

State courts:

Alaska Supreme Court • Alaska Court of Appeals • Alaska Superior Court • Alaska District Court

State resources:

Courts in Alaska • Alaska judicial elections • Judicial selection in Alaska