Anchorage Daily News

A record number of applicants are competing to be Gov. Sarah Palin's next pick for the Alaska Supreme Court, including an attorney who tried to stop the "Troopergate" investigation of Palin last year.

Twenty-five people, more than half of them judges and the rest lawyers in both public and private practice, have applied to the Alaska Judicial Council for the seat that's coming open with the November retirement of Justice Robert Eastaugh.

This will be Palin's third appointment to the state's high court, which means she will have named a majority of the five-member court in her less than three years in office. But she won't get to pick whomever she wants from the full list of 25 applicants. In an effort to take politics out of judicial appointments, the state Constitution decrees that the Alaska Judicial Council first narrow down the field and then present at least two finalists as the "most qualified" for Palin to choose from.

Palin has been keenly anticipating the decision, sending a message last week via the Internet social media Twitter (which limits messages to 140 characters) saying "Look forward to today's staff discussion re: my 3rd justice appt to highest court in 3 yrs. Supreme Court truly effects AK's future..."

"(The meeting) was just kind of acknowledging that an important decision was on the way and some speculation about how many applicants there might be," said Palin spokesman Bill McAllister.

McAllister said the Palin administration didn't expect there would be 25 applicants -- four times the number who applied for the last high court vacancy.

This is the most applicants for a state supreme court vacancy since 16 applied in 2007. Just seven of them have previously tried for a position on the state's high court. The list reads like a "who's who" of the Alaska legal community.

Anchorage Democratic Rep. Max Gruenberg, an attorney who watches the judicial process closely, said it's a talented and ideologically diverse set. "She's got a really good group to pick from. I'm very glad to see that caliber of people are applying," Gruenberg said.

SUPERIOR COURT JUDGES

The applicants include several Superior Court judges including Ben Esch of Nome, Michael Jeffrey of Barrow, Michael MacDonald of Fairbanks, Eric Smith of Palmer, Trevor Stephens of Ketchikan and Anchorage judges William Morse, Mark Rindner, Craig Stowers, John Suddock and Phillip Volland. District Court judges and top administrative law judges also applied.

Also on the list is Anchorage attorney Kevin Clarkson, who represented five state lawmakers who unsuccessfully sued to stop the Legislature's "Troopergate" investigation of Palin last fall when she was the Republican nominee for vice president. They argued the investigation was unfair but the courts declined to put a stop to the inquiry.

Another attorney applicant for the seat is David Case of Anchorage, whose speciality is Indian and Alaska Native law. Case has worked for decades with tribal governments, rural municipalities, the Alaska Federation of Natives and co-authored the book "Alaska Natives and American Laws."

The judicial council must now evaluate the applicants. That process will include background investigations, a survey of members of the Alaska Bar Association, solicitation of public comment, and interviews with the applicants.

Council members will then vote in a public meeting on which names to give Palin.

The date for that meeting isn't set but Larry Cohn, executive director of the judicial council, said he anticipates it will be in October. Palin would then have 45 days to make the appointment.

A tough choice

The judicial council provided Palin with just two names to choose between when she made her last pick in March.

One, Palmer Superior Court Judge Eric Smith, during the 1980s was executive director of the environmental law firm Trustees for Alaska, which has had disputes with Palin. The other, Anchorage Superior Court Judge Morgan Christen, was on the board of Planned Parenthood in the mid-1990s, an abortion rights group that's been on the opposite side of Palin on issues.

Palin ended up choosing Christen. Subsequently, responding to questions about her views on the process, Palin criticized the fact that anonymous comments are allowed in the bar survey and said she believed too much weight is given to the survey. But she did not propose wholesale changes to the process.

"I think the last round the governor might have liked to have seen more than two (names forwarded to her)" said Palin's spokesman, McAllister.

The judicial council has seven members. Three are public members appointed by the governor, three are attorneys, and the other is the current chief justice of the Alaska Supreme Court, Dana Fabe.

Find Sean Cockerham online at adn.com/contact/scockerham or call him at 257-4344. Alaska Politics blog: adn.com/alaskapolitics.

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