Alaska’s five Supreme Court justices have voted to make Justice Susan M. Carney the next chief justice.
Carney’s term will start on Jan. 10, 2025, three days before Chief Justice Peter Maassen retires. Under the state constitution, chief justices serve for three-year terms and are selected in a vote by all of the justices. They can serve more than one term, but the terms cannot be consecutive.
The chief justice is the administrative head of the judiciary, presides over Supreme Court hearings and appoints the presiding judges, who are responsible for ensuring that each court follows state court system policies. The chief justice gives an annual State of the Judiciary address to the Legislature and chairs the Alaska Judicial Council, which nominates judges for the governor to appoint.
Carney has written the majority opinion in some high-profile cases, including one that struck down a state law defining which abortions are medically necessary as unconstitutional, and another that found that the Permanent Fund dividend is subject to the state’s annual budget process.
Carney has been on the court since May 2016, when then-Gov. Bill Walker appointed her. She is originally from Worcester, Massachusetts, received bachelor’s and law degrees from Harvard University, and came to Alaska in 1987 to serve as a law clerk for Justice Jay Rabinowitz. She later worked as an assistant public defender for 10 years in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Interior villages. In 1998, she moved to the Office of Public Advocacy, where she worked in criminal defense, represented parents in child protection cases and worked on issues related to guardianships.
A longtime Fairbanks resident, Carney played and coached softball, basketball and soccer in the city. She volunteered at her children’s schools, and was a volunteer judge for the “We the People” high school civics competition, according to the news release announcing her selection as chief justice. She has been married to Peter Braveman for 34 years, and they have two adult children. Carney chairs the court system’s Child in Need of Aid Rules Committee and co-chairs its Fairness, Diversity and Equality committee.
When Carney joined the court, she succeeded Justice Dana Fabe, who was the only woman to serve as chief justice until now.
With Maassen’s retirement, Gov. Mike Dunleavy is due to name a new justice to the court by Dec. 22 from among three nominees: Kate Demarest, Josie Garton and Aimee Oravec. After that justice joins the court, the majority of the justices will be women for the first time in state history.
• Andrew Kitchenman has covered state government in Alaska since 2016, serving as the Capitol reporter for Alaska Public Media and KTOO before joining the Alaska Beacon. Before this, he covered state and local governments on the East Coast – primarily in New Jersey – for more than 15 years. Alaska Beacon, an affiliate of States Newsroom, is an independent, nonpartisan news organization focused on connecting Alaskans to their state government.
