Ninth Circuit upholds Alaska's merit selection process
October 1, 2010
Alaska: The United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled on September 30, 2010 to uphold Alaska's system of judicial "merit selection".
Under the current law, the Governor appoints each judge from a list of nominees who are selected by the Alaska Judicial Council. This council is made up of: the Chief Justice of the Alaska Supreme Court, three non-attorney members appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Legislature, and three attorney members appointed by the Board of Governors and Alaska Bar Association. In 2009, attorney and former judicial applicant Kenneth Kirk, along with a group of Alaska voters, sued to challenge this merit selection system. They claimed that the three members appointed by the Alaska Bar Association did not represent the majority of voters and that the selection process therefore violated their right to equal protection. They argued that all of the people who selected judges should be either elected officials or appointees of elected officials.
U.S. District Judge John W. Sedwick did not agree and ruled that the current merit selection process did not violate the right to equal protection. On appeal, the Ninth Circuit upheld this decision. 33 states use a similar selection process for appointing judges.[1]
Footnotes
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
