WHAT IS JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE? Our system of government is structured in this manner to avoid any one branch from Our system of government evolved from the becoming too powerful. The powers and English system. When the judicial system first responsibilities of each branch provide evolved in England, judges served at the checks and balances on the powers and whim of the king. The kind could, and responsibilities of the other two branches. sometimes did, “fire” judges whose decisions Legislative Executive Judicial The Judicial Branch is commonly displeased him. The former British colonists Branch Branch Branch called the court system. In Alaska state who created the United States placed a government, it includes the Alaska Court strong emphasis on establishing a judicial The American Democratic system of System, the Alaska Judicial Council, and the branch of government, which is co-equal with government is based upon the provisions of Alaska Commission on Judicial Conduct. the executive and legislative branches. The our federal (United States) and state Declaration of Independence cites the lack of constitutions. They describe a government WHAT DO COURTS DO? independence of the British judiciary as one of consisting of three co-equal branches. In the justifications for establishing the United Alaska state government, these branches are: There are eight accepted purposes of court: States, independent of England: • To do individual justice in individual …He [the king] has obstructed the • The Legislative Branch, consisting of cases Administration of Justice, by refusing his members of the Alaska Legislature • To resolve cases in a manner that Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary (the Senate and the House of promotes public trust in our system of power. He has made Judges dependent of his Representatives). The Legislative government Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and Branch is responsible for creating • To provide a forum for the peaceful the amount and payment of their salaries. state laws and appropriating funds. resolution of legal disputes The term “judicial independence” reflects • To protect individuals from the arbitrary the principle that judges must be free to • The Executive Branch, consisting of use of governmental power decide individual cases based upon the the Governor and the state • To provide a formal record of legal judge’s considered judgment about the departments, which work under the status law and the facts of the case, rather than direction of the Governor. The • public opinion about the case. Executive Branch administers and To deter criminal behavior enforces state laws. • To rehabilitate persons convicted of crimes WHY IS JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE IMPORTANT? • The Judicial Branch, which includes • To separate persons convicted of crimes from society, in appropriate cases the Alaska Supreme Court and the The citizens of our country and state judges, magistrates and court are entitled to have access to a court system employees who work under the where their disputes will be decided by a direction of the Supreme Court. The judge who considers the facts of each case Alaska Court System resolves impartially, applying the law to the facts of disputes brought before it, by applying each case to reach a decision. Each person state laws, federal laws, and the who brings a case in Alaska’s courts should provisions of the state and federal feel that his or her case will be measured on constitutions to the facts of these its individual merits, by a judge who is free disputes. from bias and political obligation. Sometimes judges have to make unpopular decisions. Sometimes, for example, a judge may conclude that an public opinion about these judicial candidates. Community Resources individual citizen has a constitutional right, The judicial Council sends only the most which is in conflict with a law passed by the qualified candidates to the Governor, who legislature. In such circumstances, a judge must appoint a judge from the pool of must exercise independent judgment to approved candidates. protect the individual citizen, or a group of Judges must stand for periodic citizens in the same situation, by declaring the retention elections, at which the voters of law unconstitutional and unenforceable. A Alaska decide whether to allow each judge to judge must take this action even if the law is continue to work as a judge in Alaska’s Judicial generally favored by many of the state’s courts. Before each retention election, the citizens. The separation of the three branches Alaska Judicial Council conducts a of government and principles of judicial comprehensive process of collecting Independence independence preserve the judge’s ability to information about the performance of each Answers to some common questions protect individual constitutional rights in this judge, and makes that information available to manner. It would be extremely difficult for a the public. judge to exercise independent judgment if The Commission on Judicial Conduct representatives of another branch of is a watchdog agency, which investigates government could summarily revoke from complaints against judges. The commission office or the judge, or if our system of can recommend to the Alaska Supreme Court government allowed the judge’s decision to that individual judges be disciplined or be ignored. removed, as appropriate. Under Alaska’s Constitution, the state BUT SHOULDN’T JUDGES BE legislature can also impeach any judge or ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR ACTIONS? justice for serious wrongful and illegal actions. Judicial accountability and judicial Yes, judges should be held independence are elements that work accountable – and they are. Judges decisions together in our system of justice. may be appealed to higher courts for review. The decisions of appellate courts (courts that Judicial independence is not for the review lower court decisions) are also protection of judges, but for the protection potentially subject to review by higher courts – of the public. It is an essential element of even, in limited circumstances, by the United out system of democratic government. States Supreme Court. Judicial independence does not mean Office of Administrative Director that a judge who acts in inappropriate ways 303 K Street cannot be disciplined or removed from office. Anchorage, AK 99501 A citizen in Alaska cannot be made a (907) 264-0547 judge of the Alaska Court System unless he or she first meets stringent standards relating to education, experience and integrity. The Alaska Judicial Council conducts an intensive screening of all persons who seek to become Published by the Alaska Court System PUB-27(3/17) state our judges, to determine their fitness for office. This process includes a solicitation of