I'm grateful to sit down with former Alaska Attorney General Michael Geraghty today to discuss the judicial selection and retention process in the Great Land.
As Co-Chair for Alaskans for Fair Courts, Geraghty has spent a lot of time defending the current system of judges having to go through the Alaska Judicial Council, a quasi-Governmental agency, to get appointed by the Governor.
He is passionate and sincere in believing that our process is the envy of the country.
I argue that the Alaska Judicial Council’s retention evaluation process is severely deficient because it includes no analysis of a judge or justice’s overall “judicial
philosophy” regarding the proper methodology for interpreting statutory and constitutional provisions.
This is a fatal flaw, because no other aspect of judicial performance has a greater
potential to impact the lives of all Alaskans – not just those who happen to find themselves in a courtroom at some point in their lives.
Hope you can tune in. It's a cordial and necessary conversation.

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