Alaska Family Action is urging citizens to vote no on the retention of Justice Susan Carney because she joined the majority of the Alaska Supreme Court in a decision called Doe v. Department of Public Safety.
Alaska Family Action claims that the decision will result in the exemption of sexual offenders from continued registration on a sexual offender database. This claim is nonsense. My review of the opinion reveals the Court upheld the validity of a law that requires sex offenders to register, but — in order to preserve the law constitutionally — allow a court to grant a hearing to a sex offender who claimed he no longer represented a danger to the public. It would be the offender’s burden to prove entitlement to exemption, and such a decision would be subject to appeal to the Supreme Court.
As a former executive director of the Alaska Judicial Council, I am impressed by the ratings (among the highest of any other judge) received by Justice Carney from the attorneys who practice in front of her. The attorneys and court staff who rated Justice Carney are persons of all political persuasions but, nevertheless, uniformly ranked Justice Carney as excellent in overall competence. She is the only woman on the Supreme Court. Her perspective is important. Her loss would be a disservice to the administration of justice. I urge you to vote yes for retention.
Harold M. Brown
Attorney General of Alaska, 1985-1986
Executive Director of the Alaska Judicial Council, 1987-1989
Superior Court judge, 1996-2008 (Retired)
Anchorage
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