Alaska Supreme Court

Alaska Supreme Court
Court Information
Justices: 5
Founded: 1959
Location: Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Juneau
Salary
Associates: $226,200
Judicial Selection
Method: Assisted appointment (Hybrid)
Term: 10 years
Active justices
Dario Borghesan, Susan Carney, Jennifer S. Henderson, Aimee Oravec, Jude Pate

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.

Five justices serve on the court.

As of January 2025, four judges on the court were appointed by a Republican governor and one judge was appointed by an independent governor.

The court hears oral argument in cases in Anchorage each month. It also meets quarterly in Fairbanks and Juneau and occasionally in other Alaskan communities.

In Alaska, state supreme court justices are selected through assisted appointment with a hybrid judicial nominating commission. Justices are appointed by the governor with the assistance of a commission who has no majority of members selected either by the governor or the state Bar Association. There are 10 states that use this selection method. To read more about the assisted appointment of judges, click here.

Jurisdiction

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 may review non-final decisions by the superior court in both civil and criminal cases. The court hears other matters, including bar admission, attorney discipline, and state law questions raised in United States federal courts. 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 supreme court may review a final verdict made by the state's Military Appeals Commission regarding a conviction and sentencing imposed by a general or special court-martial.

A case pending before the supreme court may be transferred to the court of appeals in order to avoid backlogs or delays however, the supreme court may exercise its authority over a case pending in the court of appeals "if the court affirms that the case involves a substantial question of state/federal law, or it concerns an issue of substantial public interest."

The following text from Article IV, Section 2 of the Alaska Constitution covers the organization and jurisdiction of the court:

“	Supreme Court (a) The supreme court shall be the highest court of the State, with final appellate jurisdiction. It shall consist of three justices, one of whom is chief justice. The number of justices may be increased by law upon the request of the supreme court. (b) The chief justice shall be selected from among the justices of the supreme court by a majority vote of the justices. His term of office as chief justice is three years. A justice may serve more than one term as chief justice but he may not serve consecutive terms in that office.	”
—Alaska Constitution, Article IV, Section 2

Justices

The table below lists the current judges of the Alaska Supreme Court, their political party, and when they assumed office.

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

Vacancies

As of March 22, 2023, there are no current vacancies on the Alaska Supreme Court, out of the court's five judicial positions.

Judicial selection

See also: Judicial selection in Alaska

The five justices on the Alaska Supreme Court are selected through the assisted appointed method. Each justice is appointed from a list of two or more nominees compiled by the Alaska Judicial Council.

The initial term of a new justice is at least three years, after which the justice stands for retention in an uncontested yes-no election. Subsequent terms last ten years. For more information on these elections, visit the Alaska judicial elections page.

Qualifications

To serve on this court, a justice must be:

• a U.S. citizen;
• a state resident for at least five years;
• licensed to practice law in the state;
• active in law practice for at least eight years; and
• under the age of 70.

Chief justice

The chief justice is chosen by a vote of the other supreme court justices and serves a three-year term.

Vacancies

See also: How vacancies are filled in state supreme courts

The process of filling interim judicial vacancies is identical to that of filling ones that would occur at the end of a justice's term. The governor appoints a justice from a pool of names provided by the nominating commission. After occupying the seat for at least three years, the appointee runs in an uncontested yes-no retention election and, if retained, will serve a subsequent term of ten years.

The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.

Elections

See also: Alaska Supreme Court elections

2024

See also: Alaska Supreme Court elections, 2024

The terms of two Alaska Supreme Court justices expired on February 2, 2025. The two seats were up for retention election on November 5, 2024. The filing deadline was August 1, 2024.

Candidates and results

Borghesan's seat

Alaska Supreme Court

Dario Borghesan was retained to the Alaska Supreme Court on November 5, 2024 with 60.6% of the vote.

			Retention  Vote	%	Votes
		✔	Yes	60.6	159,319
			No	39.4	103,541
			Total Votes		262,860

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It has been certified. Source

Henderson's seat

Alaska Supreme Court

Jennifer S. Henderson was retained to the Alaska Supreme Court on November 5, 2024 with 60.1% of the vote.

			Retention  Vote	%	Votes
		✔	Yes	60.1	156,819
			No	39.9	103,919
			Total Votes		260,738

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It has been certified. Source

2022

See also: Alaska Supreme Court justice vacancy (February 2023)

The term of one Alaska Supreme Court justice expired on February 1, 2023. The seat was scheduled to be up for retention on November 8, 2022. The election was not required after Justice Daniel Winfree did not file for retention. Winfree reached the court's mandatory retirement age in February 2023. The filing deadline was August 1, 2022.

2020

See also: Alaska Supreme Court elections, 2020

Candidates and results

Carney's seat

General election candidates

• Susan Carney  (Incumbent) (Nonpartisan) ✔

Justices who faced retention

■ Joel Bolger
■ Peter J. Maassen

Election results

Joel Bolger was retained in the Alaska Supreme Court, Bolger's seat election with 57.87% of the vote.

Alaska Supreme Court, Bolger's seat, 2016
Name	Yes votes
Joel Bolger	57.87%
Source: Alaska 2016 General Election, Official Results

Peter J. Maassen was retained in the Alaska Supreme Court, Maassen's seat election with 57.47% of the vote.

Alaska Supreme Court, Maassen's seat, 2016
Name	Yes votes
Peter J. Maassen	57.47%
Source: Alaska 2016 General Election, Official Results

Marjorie Allard was retained in the Alaska Court of Appeals, Allard's seat election with 62.21% of the vote.

Alaska Court of Appeals, Allard's seat, 2016
Name	Yes votes
Marjorie Allard	62.21%
Source: Alaska 2016 General Election, Official Results

• Election history, 2002-2014 (click to expand)

  2014

  Retention

  Judge	Election Vote
  StowersCraig Stowers	62.9% A

  2012

  See also: Alaska judicial elections, 2012

  Daniel Winfree, Alaska Supreme Court Justice Retention 2012 General election results
  Candidates		Votes	Percent
  For retention		165,777	64.93%
  Against retention		89,553	35.07%

  2010 election

  See also: Alaska judicial elections, 2010 and Alaska Judges up for Retention Election in 2010

  Dana Fabe, Alaska Supreme Court Justice Retention 2010 General election results
  Candidates		Votes	Percent
  For retention		126,885	54.4%
  Against retention		106,524	45.6%

  • Click here for 2010 General Election Results from the Alaska Secretary of State.

  2002 Election

  Walter Carpeneti, 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.

Caseloads

The table below details the number of cases filed with the court and the number of dispositions (decisions) the court reached each year.

Alaska Supreme Court caseload data
Year	Filings	Dispositions
2023	304	321
2022	336	310
2021	301	314
2020	308	318
2019	353	433
2018	382	371
2017	390	344
2016	397	422
2015	362	373
2014	408	448
2013	406	399
2012	428	445
2011	448	375
2010	355	364
2009	397	424
2008	383	448
2007	413	404

Analysis

Ballotpedia Courts: Determiners and Dissenters (2021)

See also: Ballotpedia Courts: Determiners and Dissenters

In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: Determiners and Dissenters, a study on how state supreme court justices decided the cases that came before them. Our goal was to determine which justices ruled together most often, which frequently dissented, and which courts featured the most unanimous or contentious decisions.

The study tracked the position taken by each state supreme court justice in every case they decided in 2020, then tallied the number of times the justices on the court ruled together. We identified the following types of justices:

• We considered two justices opinion partners if they frequently concurred or dissented together throughout the year.
• We considered justices a dissenting minority if they frequently opposed decisions together as a -1 minority.
• We considered a group of justices a determining majority if they frequently determined cases by a +1 majority throughout the year.
• We considered a justice a lone dissenter if he or she frequently dissented alone in cases throughout the year.

Summary of cases decided in 2020

• Number of justices: 5
• Number of cases: 138
• Percentage of cases with a unanimous ruling: 92.0% (127)
• Justice most often writing the majority opinion: Justice Daniel Winfree (20)
• Per curiam decisions: 61
• Concurring opinions: 2
• Justice with most concurring opinions: Justices Craig Stowers (1) and Daniel Winfree (1)
• Dissenting opinions: 11
• Justice with most dissenting opinions: Justice Craig Stowers (4)

For the study's full set of findings in Alaska, click here.

Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)

See also: Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship

Last updated: June 15, 2020

In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.

The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation, based on a variety of factors. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on the political or ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. To arrive at confidence scores we analyzed each justice's past partisan activity by collecting data on campaign finance, past political positions, party registration history, as well as other factors. The five categories of Confidence Scores were:

• Strong Democrat
• Mild Democrat
• Indeterminate
• Mild Republican
• Strong Republican

We used the Confidence Scores of each justice to develop a Court Balance Score, which attempted to show the balance among justices with Democratic, Republican, and Indeterminate Confidence Scores on a court. Courts with higher positive Court Balance Scores included justices with higher Republican Confidence Scores, while courts with lower negative Court Balance Scores included justices with higher Democratic Confidence Scores. Courts closest to zero either had justices with conflicting partisanship or justices with Indeterminate Confidence Scores.

Alaska had a Court Balance Score of 2.00, indicating Republican control of the court. In total, the study found that there were 15 states with Democrat-controlled courts, 27 states with Republican-controlled courts, and eight states with Split courts. The map below shows the court balance score of each state.

Bonica and Woodruff campaign finance scores (2012)

See also: Bonica and Woodruff campaign finance scores of state supreme court justices, 2012

In October 2012, political science professors Adam Bonica and Michael Woodruff of Stanford University attempted to determine the partisan outlook of state supreme court justices in their paper, "State Supreme Court Ideology and 'New Style' Judicial Campaigns." A score above 0 indicated a more conservative-leaning ideology while scores below 0 were more liberal. The state Supreme Court of Alaska was given a campaign finance score (CFscore), which was calculated for judges in October 2012. At that time, Alaska received a score of -0.11. Based on the justices selected, Alaska was the 21st most liberal court. The study was based on data from campaign contributions by judges themselves, the partisan leaning of contributors to the judges, 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 rather an academic gauge of various factors.

Noteworthy cases

The following are noteworthy cases heard before the Alaska Supreme Court. For a full list of opinions published by the court, click here. Know of a case we should cover here? Let us know by emailing us.

Court confirms governor's power to veto Permanent Fund appropriations

See also: Alaska Permanent Fund Amendment, Proposition 2 (1976)

On August 25, 2017, the Alaska Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Alaska Permanent Fund earnings were subject to the same “normal appropriations and veto budgetary process” as any other appropriation. The Alaska Permanent Fund was established by Proposition 2, a ballot measure approved by Alaskan voters in 1976. Proposition 2 amended the Alaska Constitution to “creat[e] the Alaska Permanent Fund (Permanent Fund) and dedicate[e] it to certain state revenues.” Specifically, the amendment required 25% of the state’s oil rents and royalties be deposited into the Permanent Fund and then invested in income-producing investments. Under a 1982 law, the state uses a statutory formula to distribute money from the Permanent Fund’s dividends to Alaska residents each year. As of August 24, 2017, the APF was valued at $60.85 billion.

In May 2016, the Alaska State Legislature passed an appropriation bill that included the distribution of $2,052 in Permanent Fund dividends to each state resident. Gov. Bill Walker (I) used a partial veto to decrease the amount to $1,022 per state resident. The legislature did not override the governor's veto. Walker said the partial veto was "necessary to preserve dividends into the future, and to help close the state’s budget gap."

State Sen. Bill Wielechowski (D) and former state Sens. Rick Halford (R) and Clem Tillion (R) filed suit. They argued that Proposition 2 gave the legislature the power to dedicate Permanent Fund earnings outside of the legislative process and that the legislature’s dedication of the earnings could not be vetoed by the governor. The state responded that Proposition 2 only provided for the dedication of specific revenues into the Permanent Fund, not the distribution of Permanent Fund earnings.

The court agreed with the state. The court ruled that the Alaska Constitution prohibited the dedication of funds outside of the budgetary process except where specifically enumerated. Since Proposition 2 only specified the dedication of funds into the Permanent Fund, the legislature did not have any special power over the dedication of funds from the Permanent Fund. Therefore, the court ruled, the governor’s partial veto was lawful.

History of the court

Between 1884 and the establishment of the Alaska Supreme Court in 1959, the highest judicial body in Alaska was the United States territorial courts. The Alaska Organic statute Act of 1884 provided Alaska with a federal judicial system including a federal district court judge, clerk, district attorney, a marshall, and four unpaid federal court commissioners. The court grew as the population increased and eventually had four divisions with resident federal district court judges in each division.

The population boom in Alaska after World War II placed increased demands on the court system, which created a massive backlog. Between 1956-1958 courts in the Alaskan territory were aided by multiple visiting U.S. District Court judges, but the backlog continued to grow. The situation was finally alleviated in 1959, after Alaska's admission into the union, when justices for the supreme court and the superior court were nominated and approved, and the state's first Chief Justice Buell Nesbett worked to make the new system operational.

During the 1968 regular legislative session, the supreme court was expanded from three to five justices in response to an increasing caseload and in the same year Governor Wally Hickel established district courts in the state.

The main seat of the court is in Anchorage, Alaska, at the Boney Courthouse, which is named after a former justice of the court, George Boney. He served on the court from December 1968 to August 1972.

Notable firsts

• Justice Dana Fabe was both the first woman to be appointed to serve on the court and the court's first female chief justice.

Courts in Alaska

See also: Courts in Alaska

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.

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.

Party control of Alaska state government

A state government trifecta is a term that describes single-party government, when one political party holds the governor's office and has majorities in both chambers of the legislature in a state government. A state supreme court plays a role in the checks and balances system of a state government.

Alaska has a divided government where neither party holds a trifecta. The Republican Party controls the office of governor and the upper chamber of the state legislature. Control of the lower chamber of the state legislature is split between parties.

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Alaska Party Control: 1992-2025
No Democratic trifectas  •  Six years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25
Governor	I	I	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	I	I	I	I	R	R	R	R	R	R	R
Senate	S	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	S	S	S
House	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	S	S	S	S	S	S	S

External links

• Alaska Court System
• Alaska Bar Association
• Alaska Case Law Service
• Gavel 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