Supreme Court Justice Alito visits Juneau

JUNEAU - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito Jr. will address the Alaska Bar Association's annual meeting in Juneau this week.

Alito is the newest member of the nine-member court, although that status will not last long. Fellow Associate Justice David Souter announced his resignation last week.

Alito's multi-day visit to attend the bar convention prompted widespread curiosity on Wednesday when his security detail blocked some streets and sidewalks downtown.

Alito's speech this evening is not open to the public, said an official with the Alaska Bar Association.

Decisions on at least two Juneau-related cases are now pending before the bar, including a high-profile case involving Kensington Mine. That case, a challenge to Coeur Alaska's waste rock disposal permits, is expected to be decided by June.

Also awaiting Supreme Court action is a request by former Rep. Bruce Weyhrauch, R-Juneau, who was indicted on corruption charges after an FBI raid on his legislative office in 2006.

Weyhrauch and federal prosecutors are battling over what evidence and charges can be considered. After the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Weyhrauch, he appealed to the Supreme Court. They have not yet said whether they will hear that appeal.

Alito played a role in another Juneau-related case shortly after joining the court in 2006. The conservative jurist voted along with the majority in a 5-4 decision holding that a school principal could regulate student free speech rights when it came to speech seen as advocating illegal drug use.

The case, Deborah Morse and the Juneau School Board, et al., v. Joseph Frederick, was later settled out of court.

Alito, 59, was born in New Jersey and served as an assistant U.S. Attorney and U.S. Attorney from that state. He was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals in 1990. President George W. Bush appointed him as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, and he took his seat on Jan. 31, 2006.