Sullivan seeks to recruit right-wing judge candidates, ignoring Alaska lawyers who applied
Sen. Dan Sullivan wants to remake the federal judiciary in Alaska in his own image.
That’s what he’s attempting with the so-called Alaska Federal Judiciary Council. He picked nine people he likes to give him advice on who should fill a judge position that has been vacant for nearly two years.
The process to select a new federal judge began long ago and Sen. Lisa Murkowski has interviewed the top candidates. She is ready to make recommendations to President Biden, who will select the next federal judge.
Sullivan doesn’t want any of them to become a judge and is hiding behind his council of nine to recruit and interview new right-wing candidates more to his liking. He doesn’t have to take the advice of his council, but can use this to delay the selection of a new judge, perhaps until after the next presidential election.
Sullivan is taking advantage of one of the Senate’s anti-democratic traditions, which allows a single senator to block a confirmation vote on a nominee or even prevent names of nominees from going to the president. Of course he isn’t revealing this to Alaskans.
James Brooks of the Alaska Beacon has the best coverage, including details on the 14 lawyers who applied for the judgeship and the four who scored highest on the traditional poll of Alaska lawyers—Anchorage Superior Court Judge Yvonne Lamoureux, U.S. Attorney S. Lane Tucker, Stoel Rives partner Tina M. Grovier, and Alaska Solicitor General Tamara DeLucia.
Murkowski asked the Alaska Bar Association to begin the poll in March and the results have been in since May. That Sullivan waits until now to create his council demonstrates that this is a stalling tactic.
A true test of character for the people who have agreed to this partisan stunt will be whether they now withdraw from the Dan Sullivan Alaska Federal Judiciary Council.
He is using all nine for political cover—Sean Parnell, Stephen Cox, Matt Findley, Jessica Graham, Jon Katchen, Jo Kuchle, Loren Leman, Christine McLeod Pate and Kim Reitmeier.
The 10 other people who applied for the vacant federal judgeship are: Charisse Arce, Molly C. Brown, John W. Erickson, Jr., Andrea Hattan, Michelle S. Nesbett, Scott A, Oravec, Jason T. Seay, Danee Pontious, Thomas I. Temple and Karen E. Vandergaw.
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