Former AK Attorney General Michael Geraghty Discusses The Judicial Selection Process

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.