Alaska ACLU expands lawsuit over Dunleavy’s veto of some court system funding

The Alaska chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has extended an ongoing lawsuit that challenges Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto of some Alaska Court System funding.

The ACLU complaint, which remains undecided in state court, is identical to an element in the recall campaign seeking Dunleavy’s removal from office.

If state courts rule against Dunleavy, it would declare that recall reason is accurate. If the courts rule in favor of the governor, it would indicate that reason for recall is untrue. (Several other reasons for recall would remain.)

In 2019, Dunleavy vetoed $334,700 from the court system budget, saying the amount was equivalent to the cost of abortion services provided by the state under a series of court rulings.

Dunleavy is anti-abortion, as is a majority of the Alaska Legislature, but the Alaska Supreme Court has repeatedly held that abortion rights are protected by the sections of the Alaska Constitution covering personal privacy.

The ACLU sued the governor in July that year, saying his veto amounted to unconstitutional retaliation against the court system for its ruling. The governor repeated the veto this year, and the amended legal complaint filed Wednesday includes the 2020 veto as well.

Judge Jennifer Henderson decided in December that the ACLU has standing to file suit against the governor, but she has not yet ruled on the merits of the case.

[Because of a high volume of comments requiring moderation, we are temporarily disabling comments on many of our articles so editors can focus on the coronavirus crisis and other coverage. We invite you to write a letter to the editor or reach out directly if you’d like to communicate with us about a particular article. Thanks.]