Dan Sullivan stays silent on his secret judge selection committee

Sen. Dan Sullivan’s office won’t say how many people have applied to the new secret Sullivan federal judge selection committee, chaired by his friend and former employer, Sean Parnell.

Judge applications to the secret committee were due by November 20, but Sullivan spokeswoman Amanda Coyne has declined to respond to multiple requests about how many people have applied and when their names will be released. Perhaps they will never be released.

Members of the Sullivan/Parnell secret committee were told not to talk to the press about the committee and refer all questions to Coyne, who won’t answer questions.

The last time there was a judge vacancy in Alaska it took more than four years to get a replacement nominated by the president because of a split between Sullivan and Sen. Lisa Murkowski and opposition to the Obama administration.

This time the position has been vacant for two years. Coyne did say Nov. 8 that “the senator and the council will move expeditiously and he intends to improve upon the lengthy timeline—more than four years—that occurred last time there was a vacancy on the U.S. District Court for Alaska.”

I suspect Sullivan’s goal is to drag this out until after the 2024 election, hoping that the president in 2025 will not be named Joe Biden.

Federal judges are appointed by the president, but there is a tradition of giving home-state senators the ability to forward names of potential nominees to the president. Sullivan won’t like whoever finds favor with the Biden administration, which is why he is stalling.

Alaska news organizations haven’t covered the Sullivan/Parnell secret committee.

At a minimum, Alaskans deserve to know who applied for the judgeship and how the applicants answered Sullivan’s political questionnaire, on which he asks applicants, among other things, to name their favorite judges, their favorite Alaska judges and the most important U.S. Supreme Court decisions.

This entire process reflects poorly on Sullivan and the nine friends and/or political allies who agreed to accept his flawed process—UAA Chancellor and former Gov. Parnell, former Lt. Gov. Loren Leman, Texas lawyer Stephen Cox, Jon Katchen, Matt Findley, Jessica Graham, Jo Kuchle, Christine Pate and Kim Reitmeier.

“Sen. Sullivan has crafted this inclusive council based on the model of Alaska’s state judicial council,” a Sullivan press release claimed on September 19.

In fact, the Alaska Judicial Council process is nothing at all like the Sullivan/Parnell secret committee, which is accountable to no one except Sullivan.

The Alaska Judicial Council, set up in the Alaska Constitution, calls for a process that allows public participation. The Sullivan/Parnell secret committee excludes all public participation.

The six-member Alaska Judicial Council informs the public of who applies to serve on the Alaska courts. It posts clear information on how it operates and how the public can take part.

For example, the council announced Oct. 30 that 14 attorneys have applied for three positions in the court system. One of them has since withdrawn.

“Public comment on the qualifications of these applicants is encouraged during the evaluation phase of the council’s work,” the Alaska Judicial Council says.

The Sullvan/Parnell secret committee, by contrast, won’t say when it meets or who has applied for the federal court vacancy, which eliminates the chance for public comment. It won’t release anything about its operations.

When the Alaska Judicial Council meets and votes on applicants, it releases that information to the public, along with the details on how the council members vote.

The Alaska Judicial Council posts the biographical statements submitted by applicants on its website.

The Alaska Judicial Council has a thorough application form that is focused on solid questions about judicial performance, not the overtly political questionnaire developed by the Sullivan/Parnell secret committee.

The completed Alaska Judicial Council applications are available for all to read. The Sullivan/Parnell secret committee questionnaires “will be kept confidential,” according to Sullivan.

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