JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - An Alaska organization that says it works to advance biblical principles is encouraging voters to remove two state Supreme Court justices based on their decisions in an abortion case.
Justices Joel Bolger and Peter Maassen are facing judicial retention elections and voters will decide their fate Nov. 8, the Alaska Public Radio Network reported (https://bit.ly/2fJIW1J).
Alaska Family Action President Jim Minnery said people shouldn’t support the justices because they voted to strike down a law requiring parental notification of a minor seeking an abortion. In a 4-1 decision in July, the state Supreme Court invalidated the law, which was approved by voters in 2010.
Pastor Julia Seymour of Anchorage’s Lutheran Church of Hope is one of several religious leaders supporting the justices. She said a vote against retaining them goes against the state’s entire judicial selection and retention system.
“It’s important to myself and to the other pastors I signed on with to help people in Anchorage and across Alaska know that there is not only one Christian voice in the city or in the state,” Seymour said.
Alaska Family Action’s opposition to Bolger and Maassen has also brought up questions about the state’s tradition of choosing and keeping judges based on merit.
“Doesn’t it make more sense to evaluate their performance on more objective criteria?” said Susanne DiPietro, executive director of the Alaska Judicial Council. “How hard do they work? How fair are they? Do people, when they go in there and they make their arguments to that judge - whether they won or they lost - do they feel like they heard them, that they got a fair hearing?”
The council has recommended voters retain both justices and 31 other judges.
Elaine Andrews, a retired Superior Court judge, said basing retention votes on individual decisions, such as the abortion case, could politicize the judicial system.
“Judges should not be evaluated on a single decision that they make,” said Andrews, who is also chair of the Alaska Bar Association’s Fair and Impartial Courts Committee.
But Minnery said he thinks people should cast their votes based on whether they agree with judges’ decisions, in addition to whether they think the judges are capable of doing the job.
“Sure, they’re competent,” Minnery said. “That’s an assumption. Now we’re talking about what kind of decisions they make and how they come to those decisions, based on their judicial philosophy.”
Alaska Family Action has opposed retaining judges in the past because of their decisions related to abortion. The group fought to have Supreme Court Justice Dana Fabe removed in 2010 and Superior Court Judge Sen Tan removed in 2012.
Minnery said the group plans to pursue an amendment to the state constitution to require either parental consent or parental notification for abortions.
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Information from: KTOO-FM, https://www.ktoo.org
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