Alaska Supreme Court

Alaska's controversial predator control program will continue.         The Alaska Supreme Court upheld the program Friday, saying it does not violate Alaska's constitutional mandate to manage wildlife for sustained yield. Defenders of Wildlife and the Alaska Wildlife Alliance sued the state, arguing that intensive predator control violates the state's obligation to manage wildlife populations for the benefit of everyone. But the court ruled that wildlife management sometimes includes choosing to bolster a prey population by killing part of the predator population.

An Alaska Supreme Court Judge made history on Wednesday afternoon. An investiture ceremony was held for Judge Morgan Christen at the Dena'ina Center. Judge Christen became the first woman from Alaska to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit as she was sworn in by fellow Alaskan, Honorable Andrew J. Kleinfeld, who serves as a Senior Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit. Judge Christen served as a judge for the Superior Court and was appointed to the Alaska Supreme Court in 2009.

by The Associated Press Saturday, May 22, 2010 FAIRBANKS, Alaska -- The Alaska Supreme Court has settled a long-standing dispute between the state and a Fairbanks riverboat operator. The court has preserved the state's authority to charge rent for commercial docks on navigable waters. But the decision says a fee based on passenger head counts violates federal law. The court set the rent charged to Alaska Riverways, Inc., at $1,000 per year for docking its riverboats above the state-owned riverbed.

The Alaska Supreme Court has upheld a lower court ruling finding that a Marine, who hadn't lived in the state for years but maintained residency, is not eligible for a Permanent Fund Dividend.     Brian Ross sued the state over a 1998 law stating that anyone allowably absent for 10 straight years would no longer be eligible for dividends.     According to the ruling, Ross was absent from the state since 1990, first as a student and later as a Marine Corps officer. However, he maintained residency and received a dividend until 2009, when he and his children were denied because of the new law.     Ross argued, among other things, that the 10-year rule violated due process rights.

Gov. Sean Parnell appointed an Anchorage attorney to the state's five-member supreme court Thursday, filling a vacancy left by the naming of Justice Morgan Christen to the federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Peter Maassen, the Alaska Supreme Court's 22nd justice, was selected from a list of two candidates submitted to Parnell by the Alaska Judicial Council. Maassen, who came to Alaska in 1980 with his wife, is currently a partner at general civil firm Ingaldson, Maassen & Fitzgerald PC. He serves on the boards of directors for both the Anchorage Youth Court and the Alaska Bar Association.

by The Associated Press Saturday, July 10, 2010 JUNEAU, Alaska -- A group supporting publicly financed elections has lost its fight over a failed ballot initiative. The Alaska Supreme Court on Friday upheld a lower court ruling siding with then-Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell in his refusal to certify an initiative proposed by Alaskans for Clean Elections. The initiative proposed a system of publicly financed elections, and a special tax on oil produced in Alaska to fund the system.

The chief justice of the Alaska Supreme Court will retire in January after more than a decade of service, according to a Friday announcement. Walter L. Carpeneti says his departure from the court will be effective Jan. 31, 2013. His term as chief justice ends July 1, after justices selected Dana Fabe as the court's next chief justice last month. Carpeneti has served on the state supreme court since his 1998 appointment by Gov. Tony Knowles. He has been on the bench since 1981, when he was appointed to superior court in Juneau by Gov. Jay Hammond.

The Alaska Supreme Court ruled Friday that the Alaska Railroad can begin to spray herbicides along its tracks, starting as soon as Saturday. The court sided with the railroad and the state Department of Environmental Conservation over a plan to use chemicals to kill weeds along 30 miles of track south of Anchorage. Railroad officials say overgrown weeds are dangerous but environmental groups sued to stop the plan, claiming that the chemicals could cause harmful health effects. Kristin Ryan, director of the DEC's Division of Environmental Health, says Friday's ruling shows the agency was justified in issuing a spraying permit to the railroad.

The Municipality of Anchorage has again rejected a petition to place a referendum repealing Mayor Dan Sullivan's controversial labor ordinance on the city ballot, naming some of the same causes from its first refusal two weeks ago. In a Monday memo to acting Municipal Clerk Amanda Moser, City Attorney Dennis Wheeler says the revised version of the referendum, submitted by sponsor Andy Holleman and other backers, properly cites Assembly Ordinance...

A petition asking voters to repeal Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan's controversial rewrite of the city's labor laws has been rejected by city officials, who say it won't appear on the municipal ballot because it was improperly worded and targeted. In a Monday letter to petition organizer Andy Holleman, released Tuesday by City Clerk Barbara Jones, she says the petition to repeal Assembly Ordinance 37, which was passed by the Anchorage Assembly March 26 in a narrow 6-5 vote, was turned down after a recommendation by City Attorney Dennis Wheeler.

On Friday, Governor Sean Parnell appointed Judge Joel Bolger to the Alaska Supreme Court following the retirement of Justice Walter “Bud” Carpeneti. Judge Bolger served on the Alaska Court of Appeals in Anchorage and will be the 23rd justice to the state's highest court. Bolger was appointed as a district court judge in Valdez in 1997 and a stint to the Kodiak Superior Court. Bolger moved to the state in the late 70's and began a legal career in Dillingham as a VISTA volunteer attorney after receiving his education from the University of Iowa.

The Alaska Supreme Court tossed out the Alaska Redistricting Board's latest redistricting plan for the state Friday, rejecting it on the same grounds as previous versions: failing to sufficiently follow the state Constitution in an attempt to satisfy the federal Voting Rights Act. Friday's decision (PDF) remands the plan to the board, to be redrafted in accordance with procedures laid out in Hickel v. Southeast Conference, a 1992 redistricting case. The court rejected a previous plan on the same grounds in a March 14 decision, and Fairbanks Superior Court Judge Michael P. McConahy threw out the board's revised plan in an April 20 ruling.

State prosecutors with the Office of Special Prosecutions and Appeals want the Alaska Supreme Court to weigh in on a case involving a member of the Fairbanks Four, asking that it hear their challenge to a decision granting convicted murderer Eugene Vent a new hearing. Two weeks ago, the Alaska Court of Appeals awarded Vent the hearing after deciding a Fairbanks Superior Court judge used incorrect information in making a ruling during Vent's murder trial. Vent is one of four men convicted in the 1997 beating death of 15-year old Jonathon Hartman.

Alaska voters went to the polls Tuesday night to remake the state Legislature, selecting candidates in almost every seat of both the House and Senate. Many races this year are being held in response to redistricting under the 2010 U.S. Census, conducted in Tuesday's elections under an interim plan approved by the Alaska Supreme Court. Some 59 of the Legislature's 60 seats are in play -- all 40 House seats and every Senate seat except that of Juneau Sen. Dennis Egan, following a 2009 legal dispute over replacing Sen. Kim Elton.

Alaskan voters will help choose America's next president Tuesday, in an election with almost every state lawmaker's seat on the ballot and the future leadership of the state Senate an open question. Tuesday's ballot is headed by the presidential ticket, with President Barack Obama and GOP challenger Mitt Romney alongside their vice-presidential nominees Joe Biden and Paul Ryan. While Alaska has only three electoral votes at stake and is one of the last states in the nation to have its results come in on election nights, they could take on added significance with national media reporting both candidates in a statistical dead heat.

The Alaska Supreme Court has upheld a lower court ruling finding that a Marine, who hadn't lived in the state for years but maintained residency, is not eligible for a Permanent Fund Dividend.     Brian Ross sued the state over a 1998 law stating that anyone allowably absent for 10 straight years would no longer be eligible for dividends.     According to the ruling, Ross was absent from the state since 1990, first as a student and later as a Marine Corps officer. However, he maintained residency and received a dividend until 2009, when he and his children were denied because of the new law.     Ross argued, among other things, that the 10-year rule violated due process rights.

It's almost been a three-decade battle for about 5,000 out-of-state commercial fisherman, a battle against the state of Alaska that's finally winding down.   This week, Anchorage Superior Court Judge Andrew Guidi signed a final $33.5 million judgment against the state in a class action lawsuit that originated with a case filed in 1984. It became known as the Carlson case, after one of the first plaintiffs, Don Carlson, who bought non-resident permits for fishing at a rate that was triple what an Alaskan fishermen would pay.   The courts sided with Carlson and others who joined the case that those fees were too high.  The state was ordered to refund some of the fees -- but the litigation dragged out, because the state appealed the case five times in the Alaska Supreme Court.  Lance Nelson, Senior Assistant Attorney General, says the litigation led to new policies.  “It was literally the first of its kind in the United States, deciding how much a state could charge as a differential for non-residents in commercial fishing,” said Nelson.