Alaska

Incoming Alaska Supreme Court chief justice applauds first female majority

Published

1 year ago

December 5, 2024

Incoming Alaska Supreme Court chief justice applauds first female majority

Alaska Supreme Court Justice Susan Carney. (Alaska Court System)

Alaska’s highest court will have a new chief justice in January, and for the first time in its history, the court will be majority female.

Justice Susan Carney has served on the Alaska Supreme Court since 2016, and fellow justices recently selected her to be chief justice when current Chief Justice Peter Maassen retires in mid-January. Gov. Mike Dunleavy also announced this week the appointment of Aimee Anderson Oravec to fill Maassen’s seat, meaning the state’s high court will be comprised of three women and two men.

Carney, a longtime Fairbanks resident and former public defender, describes the female majority as a historic and remarkable occasion.

Listen:

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This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Susan Carney: I mean, personally, I think that’s great. I think it’s important for any court and any court system to reflect the community that it serves. Male judges have dominated the court system since it was created, and it’s about time that, at least for a bit, there’s a majority of women on the Supreme Court. The Court of Appeals previously was all women, until a fourth judge was added. As a woman, I’m pretty happy about it. I’m also happy to have another Fairbanks justice. This is also the first time that the court will have a majority of justices not in Anchorage.

Casey Grove: Yeah, that is interesting. So in this role as Chief Justice, you’re the head administrator for the judicial branch of the state. Justice Maassen had delivered the State of the Judiciary (speech) last year, and Chief Justice Winfree before that. And I think both of them mentioned some challenges. One of those challenges was just access to the judicial system, and I think that means both buildings and in other ways. Where are we at with that?

SC: You know, somewhat strangely, some of the things that we learned during the pandemic have really helped that. I practiced in Fairbanks my whole career as a public defender. I had lots and lots of cases in remote villages. And number one, there aren’t courthouses in really small villages. We try to have at least a part-time magistrate judge in the bigger hub communities. But for people that live in real small, remote villages, getting physically to a court is difficult at best and often impossible. So we’ve learned so much about using technology that makes it much easier for people to appear in court by video, which is dramatically better than calling in by phone, so that right there makes a big difference in people’s access.

CG: And I guess another challenge that has come up just since the pandemic is this backlog of cases. And I think that’s been mentioned every year since the pandemic started, basically. But where are we at with that? And I guess in your role, I mean, how do you look at that?

SC: You know, the whole court system is really devoted to trying to cut this backlog, and we’ve made real strides at every level. Our Judicial Conference at the end of October had an entire day devoted to, you know, “Here are concrete things that all of us, judges at every level, can do to try and move these things along.” And we really have made a significant step toward cutting down the backlog, which is not to say it isn’t still there, but we really are working toward it.

CG: Yeah. You know, I saw in the bio that the court system sent out about your selection to be the chief justice that you have a strong history in sports, in softball and basketball and soccer. And I wonder, through your career, have you learned lessons from participating in team sports that have, you know, maybe helped you with your work?

SC: Absolutely, and I think most surprisingly and most relevant to this job, when I interviewed with the governor for this job, I was asked, why could I possibly think I could do this? Because I’ve been a public defender forever, doing almost exclusively criminal matters, and the Supreme Court doesn’t. The Court of Appeals gets all the criminal matters. And what I said was there are five people on this court, which is like a basketball team, and different justices bring different experience the same way different roles on a basketball team are filled by tall people or short people, or the one that can pass the best. And pretty much from that moment on, the conversation and interview revolved around basketball.

CG: He probably gets asked a lot if he plays or played basketball, I imagine.

SC: And Gov. (Bill) Walker, at one point, was asking me, “Well, I’ve played it, I grew up and I played in these villages. Did you play in those villages?” No, but, you know, I’ve played in Anaktuvuk for a number of years.

CG: Yeah. I wanted to ask you about something related to the governor’s office, and, I mean, the current administration. There was a dispute, if you want to call it that — or maybe dissatisfaction, I think is the way some people described it — a few years ago about the selection process for judges, and I think including Supreme Court justices, in that the governor and some others had expressed dissatisfaction about that process, that there’s only the three names that get recommended by the Alaska Judicial Council. Side note, the Chief Justice is a deciding vote on that council. Do you see that issue as being settled? Is that going to come back? I mean, do you think that’s something you’ll have to deal with eventually?

SC: It may come back. I don’t really have a crystal ball. I know that there are people that feel strongly that having a different process for selecting judges would be better. My understanding of how we got to where we are, boiled down to its most basic, is because we came into the United States so late, we had the ability — we, meaning the constitutional delegates — to look at what every other state had done, except for Hawaii, and figure out what they thought was the best way to pick it. And they put a lot of time and effort into it.

I think it works well. I think that it’s important for judges to not be political. Our ethical standards require us not to. We cannot be swayed by political concerns or favoritism for a litigant or our emotions. And this process, by and large, takes out the political nature of who gets to be a judge. You know, the governor ultimately gets to pick, and the governor, of course, is a politician.

CG: One thing I really wanted to ask you, as we’ve been watching oral arguments here recently, like with the United States Supreme Court, we kind of get an idea of what the justices are thinking based on the questions that they ask the folks giving oral arguments. But then, when you make a decision, or before you make a decision on a case, there’s conference between the justices, and that’s not something that we get to see. I just wonder, what is that like? I mean, are those arguments? Are they heated? What is it like?

SC: Rarely. It’s very cordial, really, somewhat formal, particularly for me, having come from a public defender agency where things are not formal. It is at times somewhat emotional, where people vehemently believe in a position, but it is always, always polite. It is rarely heated. I can’t remember more than a handful of times in the time I’ve been on the court where anyone’s voice was actually raised at another justice.

CG: Maybe cordial, but does it get contentious?

SC: I mean, it can, and if there really are just fundamental disagreements that will lead to there being an opinion in the case and a dissent. That really doesn’t happen very much here, you know, certainly not in comparison to the United States Supreme Court, where there are certain cases that people can look at and pretty accurately predict that there will be a majority and there will be a dissent, and who will be in which. We work hard to not dissent, unless it’s really critical. People are asking us to answer a particular question, and they want the right answer for it. And if there is a right answer, there shouldn’t be a couple of them or three of them. If there really is a correct answer, we should be able to get together and figure out what it is, and then make that clear to people.

CG: That’s interesting. It does, you know, from the outside, seem very different than the U.S. Supreme Court.

You know, I know the Supreme Court deals with actual legal marital disputes, but, you know, I wonder, do people hear what you do for a living, do they bring their trivial disputes to you? You know, like, should the toilet paper be put on this way or that way?

SC: No, I don’t think people ask me about legal things much. Nowhere near as much as they did when I was a public defender. And then there would be a steady stream of friends that would say, “I don’t know any ‘real’ lawyers, so let me ask you this.”

CG: Oh, come on! But you are a real lawyer!

Casey Grove is host of Alaska News Nightly, a general assignment reporter and an editor at Alaska Public Media. Reach him atcgrove@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Caseyhere.

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Alaska

Trump administration opens vast majority of Alaska petroleum reserve to oil activity

Published

1 hour ago

December 23, 2025

Press Room

Trump administration opens vast majority of Alaska petroleum reserve to oil activity

The northeastern part of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska is seen on June 26, 2014. (Photo by Bob Wick / U.S. Bureau of Land Management)

The Bureau of Land Management on Monday said it approved an updated management plan that opens about 82% of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska to oil and gas leasing.

The agency this winter will also hold the first lease sale in the reserve since 2019, potentially opening the door for expanded oil and gas activity in an area that has seen new interest from oil companies in recent years.

The sale will be the first of five oil and gas lease sales called for in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that passed this summer.

The approval of the plan follow the agency’s withdrawal of the 2024 activity plan for the reserve that was approved under the Biden administration and limited oil and gas drilling in more than half the reserve.

The 23-million-acre reserve is the largest tract of public land in the U.S. It’s home to ConocoPhillips’ giant Willow discovery on its eastern flank.

ConocoPhillips and other companies are increasingly eyeing the reserve for new discoveries. ConocoPhillips has proposed plans for a large exploration season with winter, though an Alaska Native group and conservation groups have filed a lawsuit challenging the effort.

The planned lease sale could open the door for more oil and gas activity deeper into the reserve.

The Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat, consisting of elected leaders from Alaska’s North Slope, where the reserve is located, said it supports the reversal of the Biden-era plan. Infrastructure from oil and gas activity provides tax revenues for education, health care and modern services like running water and sewer, the group said.

The decision “is a step in the right direction and lays the foundation for future economic, community, and cultural opportunities across our region — particularly for the communities within the (petroleum reserve),” said Rex Rock Sr., president of the Arctic Slope Regional Corp. representing Alaska Natives from the region, in the statement from the group.

The reserve was established more than a century ago as an energy warehouse for the U.S. Navy. It contains an estimated 8.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil.

But it’s also home to rich populations of waterfowl and caribou sought by Alaska Native subsistence hunters from the region, as well as threatened polar bears.

The Wilderness Society said the Biden-era plan established science-based management of oil and gas activity and protected “Special Areas” as required by law.

It was developed after years of public meetings and analysis, and its conservation provisions were critical to subsistence users and wildlife, the group said.

The Trump administration “is abandoning balanced management of America’s largest tract of public land and catering to big oil companies at the expense of future generations of Alaskans,” said Matt Jackson, Alaska senior manager for The Wilderness Society. The decision threatens clean air, safe water and wildlife in the region, he said.

The decision returns management of the reserve to the 2020 plan approved during the first Trump administration. It’s part of a broad effort by the administration to increase U.S. oil and gas production.

To update the 2020 plan, the Bureau of Land Management invited consultation with tribes and Alaska Native corporations and held a 14-day public comment period on the draft assessment, the agency said.

“The plan approved today gives us a clear framework and needed certainty to harness the incredible potential of the reserve,” said Kevin Pendergast, state director for the Bureau of Land Management. “We look forward to continuing to work with Alaskans, industry and local partners as we move decisively into the next phase of leasing and development.”

Congress voted to overturn the 2024 plan for the reserve, supporting bills from Alaska’s Republican congressional delegation to prevent a similar plan from being implemented in the future.

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Alaska

Opinion: Alaskans, don’t be duped by the citizens voter initiative

Published

14 hours ago

December 22, 2025

Press Room

Opinion: Alaskans, don’t be duped by the citizens voter initiative

Voters received stickers after they cast their general election ballot at the Alaska Division of Elections Region II office in Anchorage as absentee in-person and early voting began on Oct. 21, 2024. (Bill Roth / ADN)

A signature drive is underway for a ballot measure formally titled “An Act requiring that only United States citizens may be qualified to vote in Alaska elections,” often referred to by its sponsors as the United States Citizens Voter Act. Supporters say it would “clarify” that only U.S. citizens may vote in Alaska elections. That may sound harmless. But Alaskans should not sign this petition or vote for the measure if it reaches the ballot. The problem it claims to fix is imaginary, and its real intent has nothing to do with election integrity.

Alaska already requires voters to be U.S. citizens. Election officials enforce that rule. There is no bill in Juneau proposing to change it, no court case challenging it and no Alaska municipality contemplating noncitizen voting. Nothing in our election history or law suggests that the state’s citizenship requirement is under threat.

Which raises the real question: If there’s no problem to solve, what is this measure actually for?

The answer has everything to do with election politics. Across the Lower 48, “citizenship voting” drives have been used as turnout engines and list-building operations — reliable ways to galvanize conservative voters, recruit volunteers and gather contact data. These measures typically have no immediate policy impact, but the downstream political payoff is substantial.

Alaska’s effort fits neatly into that pattern. The petition is being circulated by Alaskans for Citizen Voting, whose leading advocates include former legislators John Coghill, Mike Chenault and Josh Revak. The group’s own financial disclaimer identifies a national organization, Americans for Citizen Voting, as its top contributor. The effort isn’t purely local. It is part of a coordinated national campaign.

To understand where this may be headed, look at what Americans for Citizen Voting is doing in other states. In Michigan, the group is backing a constitutional amendment far more sweeping than the petition: It would require documentary proof of citizenship for all voters, eliminate affidavit-based registration, tighten ID requirements even for absentee ballots, and require voter-roll purges tied to citizenship verification. In short, “citizen-only voting” is the opening move — the benign-sounding front door to a much broader effort to make voting more difficult for many eligible Americans.

Across the country, these initiatives rarely stand alone. They serve to establish the narrative that elections are lax or vulnerable, even when they are not. That narrative then becomes the justification for downstream restrictions: stricter ID laws, new documentation burdens for naturalized citizens, more aggressive voter-roll purges and — especially relevant here — new hurdles for absentee and mail-in voters.

In the 2024 general election, the Alaska Division of Elections received more than 55,000 absentee and absentee-equivalent ballots — about 16% of all ballots cast statewide. Many of those ballots came from rural and roadless communities, where as much as 90% of the population lacks road access and depends heavily on mail and air service. Absentee voting is not a convenience in these places; it is how democracy reaches Alaskans who live far from polling stations.

When a national organization that has supported absentee-voting restrictions elsewhere becomes the top financial backer of the petition, Alaskans should ask what comes next.

Supporters say the initiative is common sense. But laws don’t need “clarifying” when they are already explicit, already enforced and already uncontroversial. No one has produced evidence that noncitizen voting is a problem in an Alaska election. We simply don’t have a problem for this measure to solve.

What we do have are real challenges — education, public safety, energy policy, housing, fiscal stability. The petition addresses none of them. It is political theater, an Outside agenda wrapped in Alaska packaging.

If someone with a clipboard asks you to sign the Citizens Voter petition, say no. The problem is fictional, and the risks to our voting system are real. And if the measure makes the ballot, vote no.

Stan Jones is a former award-winning Alaska journalist and environmental advocate. He lives in Anchorage.

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Alaska

Record cold temperatures for Juneau with a change to Western Alaska

Published

1 day ago

December 22, 2025

Press Room

Record cold temperatures for Juneau with a change to Western Alaska

ANCHORAGE, AK (Alaska’s News Source) – Overnight lows in Juneau have hit a two streak for breaking records!

Sunday tied the previous record lowest high temperature of 10 degrees set back in 1961, with clear skies and still abnormally cold temperatures to kick off Christmas week. Across the panhandle, clear and cold remains the trend but approaching Christmas Day, snow potential may return to close out the work week.

Download the free Alaska’s News Source Weather App.

In Western Alaska, Winter Storm Warnings are underway beginning as early as tonight for the Seward Peninsula. Between 5 to 10 inches of snow are forecasted across Norton Sound from Monday morning through midnight Monday as wind gusts build to 35 mph. In areas just slightly north, like Kotzebue, a Winter Storm Warning will remain in effect from Monday morning to Wednesday morning. Kotzebue and surrounding areas will brace for 6 to 12 inches of possible snow accumulation over the course of 3 mornings with gusts up to 40 miles per hour.

Southcentral could potentially see record low high temperatures for Monday as highs in Anchorage are forecasted in the negatives. Across the region, clear skies will stick around through Christmas with subsiding winds Monday morning.

Send us your weather photos and videos here!

Interior Alaska is next up on the ‘changing forecast’ list as a Winter Storm Watch will be in effect Tuesday afternoon through Thursday morning. With this storm watch, forecasted potential of 5 to 10 inches of snow will coat the North Star Borough. For those in Fairbanks, 1 to 3 inches of snow will likely fall Tuesday night into Wednesday, just in time for Christmas Eve! Until then, mostly sunny skies will dominate the Interior with things looking just a bit cloudier past the Brooks Range. The North Slope will stay mostly cloudy to start the work week with some morning snow likely for Wainwright.

The Aleutian Chain is another overcast region with mostly cloudy skies and light rain for this holiday week. Sustained winds will range from 15 to 20 miles per hour with gusts up to 35 mph in Cold Bay.

24/7 Alaska Weather: Get access to live radar, satellite, weather cameras, current conditions, and the latest weather forecast here. Also available through the Alaska’s News Source streaming app available on Apple TV, Roku, and Amazon Fire TV.

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