Alaska Supreme Court has power to act quickly on Dunleavy recall

The Alaska Supreme Court gets the appeal of the Dunleavy recall next week.

It doesn’t have to be a drawn-out process, though the attorney general and the Dunleavy support group will try to make it so.

Anchorage Superior Court Judge Eric Aarseth ordered a delay on signature gathering today, saying that it should wait until the Supreme Court acts. The issue is that if the high court rejects one or more of the grounds for recall, that would create an opportunity for additional court delay.

The state and the Dunleavy support group would probably try to reject all of the recall signatures, claiming that some people may have signed on the basis of an argument about incompetence, neglect of duty or a lack of fitness for the position that the court may strike.

Aarseth has already ruled that the recall petitions should not have been rejected by the state, a decision that remains in place. He entered a final judgement in the case Wednesday.

The Dunleavy support group plans to appeal next week, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

The paper also said that while the recall proponents hope to have a decision in February, the support group, Stand Tall With Mike, doesn’t see any reason to be so hasty.

The Supreme Court has the power to act quickly and has done so on important election matters in the past.

The 2010 handling of Joe Miller’s spelling lawsuit challenging the write-in election victory of Sen. Lisa Murkowski could serve as a template.

Miller filed his state case on Nov. 22, 2010. Murkowski won the race by 10,000 votes, but Miller challenged thousands of them, including one in which a voter spelled her name correctly and put a smiley face after it.

A superior court judge heard arguments Dec. 8 and ruled on Dec. 10, upholding Murkowski’s victory. Miller appealed to the Supreme Court three days later.

The Supreme Court got the case Dec. 13 and scheduled oral arguments for Dec. 17. The Supreme Court issued its decision five days later on Dec. 22, 2010 upholding the vote count.

The recall is not an identical situation, but it is another matter in which a speedy decision by the court is in the public interest.

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