Category: Featured Juneau News

By: James Brooks, Alaska Beacon

Former state Rep. David Eastman has won his lawsuit against Gov. Mike Dunleavy and the state of Alaska, successfully challenging the governor’s decision to allow a bill to become law last year.

In the suit, Eastman — a Republican from Wasilla — challenged the constitutionality of Senate Bill 189, citing a clause of the Alaska Constitution that requires lawmakers to limit bills to a single subject.

In the final hours of the 2024 legislative session, lawmakers combined several other bills into SB 189. Dunleavy and the executive branch had no role in the crafting of the bill, but because the governor allowed the bill to become law without his signature, the suit named him as a defendant.

On Tuesday, Juneau Superior Court Judge Larry Woolford signed an order declaring that the bill “was passed by the 33rd Alaska Legislature in violation of Article II, Section 13 of the Alaska Constitution and is therefore void.”

Woolford’s order also awards Eastman $20,250 in costs and attorney fees. Eastman was represented in the suit by attorney Joe Geldhof.

The legal victory has limited immediate impact because lawmakers this year re-passed all the bills that were combined into Senate Bill 189. Woolford’s order “does not address and has no effect on subsequent legislation repealing and reenacting the provisions of SB 189.”

Its biggest impact may be to constrain current and future legislators, preventing them from repeating the kinds of legislative logrolling that have become commonplace in the final days of each two-year legislative cycle. 

Because bills die at the end of the legislative cycle and few bills pass both House and Senate, it has become common for lawmakers to make last-hours amendments that combine bills in an effort to speed them across the legislative finish line.

“We are pleased to have resolved the Eastman v. Dunleavy case, which challenged a bill on the grounds of violating the single subject rule,” Attorney General Treg Taylor said by email on Tuesday. 

“Following the filing of the lawsuit, the Department of Law sought to provide the Legislature with an opportunity to rectify this by breaking the bill into separate pieces of legislation. Fortunately, the Legislature successfully completed their work prior to the conclusion of the case, avoiding confusion on the laws enacted,” Taylor said.

No appeals are expected.

By: James Brooks, Alaska Beacon

A group that advocates in favor of Alaska’s nonpartisan judicial system has filed a lawsuit against Gov. Mike Dunleavy, alleging that he illegally appointed a member to the board that nominates candidates for the state’s judicial vacancies.

The suit, filed Wednesday in Anchorage Superior Court by Alaskans for Fair Courts, claims Dunleavy violated the constitution and state law when he picked John W. Wood — also named as a defendant — for a public seat on the Alaska Judicial Council.

Under the state constitution, the council consists of three non-attorneys picked by the governor and three attorneys selected by the Alaska Bar Association. In addition, whoever holds the office of chief justice of the Alaska Supreme Court sits as the council’s chair.

The council accepts applications for judicial vacancies, vets those applicants for merit using nonpartisan metrics, then submits a list of nominees to the governor for final selection.

Wood was picked for a non-attorney seat on the board but is a former attorney, making him ineligible to serve, the suit alleges. In addition, the suit says Wood is ineligible because he held a “position of profit” with the state when appointed in May.

State records show Wood has served as a state contractor, receiving more than $132,000 this year. The most recent payment is listed as June 6.

Alaskans for Fair Courts also claims that Wood is ineligible because he has not been confirmed by the Legislature. 

Wood was appointed during this year’s legislative session, but after lawmakers had voted on confirmations for the year, the suit claims, meaning that Wood’s appointment should not be considered a recess appointment subject to confirmation next year.

“If the governor were to appoint a (judge) nominee selected by a judicial council that is not properly constituted … the resulting legal deficiency … could subject actions taken by the new judge to challenge by litigants,” the suit claims.

It asks that the Anchorage Superior Court issue an order declaring that Wood is ineligible, and that his appointment is void.

In a written statement, Attorney General Treg Taylor said the state hasn’t yet been served with the lawsuit and can’t comment on the merits.

About the timing issue, Taylor said, “The Governor has the ability to appoint three members to the Judicial Council, and the Alaska Bar Association appoints the other three members to provide a 50/50 balance on the Council. The Council then nominates judges for the Governor’s selection with any ties on the Council being broken by the Chief Justice. It is important that the Council have this balanced perspective as it moves forward with its work. Having to wait almost a full year before seating a Governor’s appointee, as the Alaskans for Fair Courts argues, upsets that balance and doesn’t seem so fair.”

Dunleavy has seemingly violated the state constitution’s judicial nomination process before. 

In 2019, he failed to appoint a judge under the timeline required by the constitution, which was part of the basis of a failed attempt to recall him from office. In 2021, he called for the council to add a nominee in addition to the three it had forwarded to him for a seat on the Supreme Court. The constitution does not allow governors to appoint someone from outside of the council’s list of nominees. He ultimately did by the constitutional deadline in that instance.