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Walter Carpeneti
Walter L. "Bud" Carpeneti was a justice on the five member Alaska Supreme Court. He was appointed to the court in 1998 by Governor Tony Knowles and was retained for another 10-year term in 2002. He served as chief justice from 2009 until June 2012.[1] He retired from the court on January 31, 2013.[2][1]
Education
Carpeneti earned his undergraduate degree with distinction in history from Stanford University in 1967. He received his J.D. degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1970.[3]
Professional career
Carpeneti was a law clerk for Justice John Dimond of the Alaska Supreme Court in 1970-71. From 1972 to 1974 he was in private practice in San Francisco, first with Melvin Belli and then in an office with his father, retired San Francisco Superior Court Judge Walter I. Carpeneti, and his brother, Richard Carpeneti. He returned to Alaska in 1974 to be the Public Defender in Juneau. He left that office in 1978 to go into private practice with William T. Council, where he remained until appointed to the Superior Court by Governor Jay Hammond in 1981. He was appointed to Alaska Supreme Court in 1998 and will retire in January 2013.[3][1]
Awards and associations
Associations
- Member, Alaska Judicial Council
- Member, Alaska Bar Association
- Member, State Bar of California
- Member, Alaska Rules of Evidence Drafting Committee
- Member, Alaska Commission on Judicial Conduct
- Member, Criminal Pattern Jury Instructions Committee
- Member, Criminal Sentencing Practices and Procedures Committee
- Managing Editor, University of California at Berkeley Law Review
- Chair, Judicial Education Committee
Elections
2002 Election
| Alaska Supreme Court Justice Retention 2002 General election results | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Votes | Percent | ||
For retention 
|
130,566 | 66.7% | ||
| Against retention | 65,117 | 33.3% | ||
- Click here for 2002 General Election Results from the Alaska Secretary of State.
Alaska Judicial Council
The Alaska Judicial Council recommended unanimously (5-0) that he be retained. The AJC conducted a survey of 2,860 attorneys in Alaska, who rated Justice Carpeneti on ten categories. Overall, his rating was 4.5 on a scale of 5, where "5" means "excellent".
- He scored highest (4.5) in the categories of "conduct free from impropriety," "courtesy," and "understanding and compassion."
- He scored 4.4 or better in all ten categories.
The AJC also surveyed court employees, who rated Carpeneti 4.7 on a scale of 5 on overall performance.[4]
| Summary categories | Attorney survey | Court employee survey |
|---|---|---|
| Legal ability | 4.4 | - |
| Impartiality | 4.5 | 4.8 |
| Integrity | 4.6 | 4.8 |
| Temperament | 4.6 | 4.8 |
| Diligence | 4.5 | 4.3 |
| Overall | 4.5 | 4.7 |
Political ideology
In October 2012, political science professors Adam Bonica and Michael Woodruff of Stanford University attempted to determine the partisan ideology of state supreme court justices. They created a scoring system in which a score above 0 indicated a more conservative-leaning ideology, while scores below 0 were more liberal.
Carpeneti received a campaign finance score of -0.7, indicating a liberal ideological leaning. This was more liberal than the average score of -0.11 that justices received in Alaska.
The study was based on data from campaign contributions by the judges themselves, the partisan leaning of those who contributed to the judges' campaigns, or, in the absence of elections, the ideology of the appointing body (governor or legislature). This study was not a definitive label of a justice, but an academic summary of various relevant factors.[5]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Juneau Empire, "Top AK justice to retire," June 17, 2012
- ↑ Associated Press "Carpeneti chosen as new chief justice of Alaska Supreme Court" June 5, 2009
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Biographies of the Alaska Supreme Court justices
- ↑ Alaska Judicial Council's 2002 retention recommendation for Carpeneti (dead link)
- ↑ Stanford University, "State Supreme Court Ideology and 'New Style' Judicial Campaigns," October 31, 2012
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
