Susan Carney (Alaska)
From Ballotpedia
Susan Carney
Alaska Supreme Court
Tenure
2016 - Present
Term ends
2031
Years in position
8
Compensation
Elections and appointments
Education
Contact
Susan Carney is a judge of the Alaska Supreme Court. She assumed office on May 12, 2016. Her current term ends on February 1, 2031.
Carney ran for re-election for judge of the Alaska Supreme Court. She won in the retention election on November 3, 2020.
Carney was elected chief justice in November 2024 effective January 2025.[1]
Carney was first appointed to the court by Gov. Bill Walker (Ind.) on May 12, 2016, to succeed Justice Dana Fabe, who retired on May 31, 2016.[2] To read more about judicial selection in Alaska, click here.
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country. As part of this study, we assigned each justice a Confidence Score describing our confidence in the degree of partisanship exhibited by the justices' past partisan behavior, before they joined the court.[3] Carney received a confidence score of Indeterminate.[4] Click here to read more about this study.
Biography
Carney received her bachelor's degree from Harvard-Radcliffe College and her J.D. from Harvard Law school in 1987.[5] Prior to joining the court, she worked as a public defender and for the Alaska Office of Public Advocacy. She clerked for Alaska Supreme Court Justice Jay Rabinowitz.[6]
Carney was appointed to the court in 2016 and retained by voters in 2020.
Elections
2020
Susan Carney was retained to the Alaska Supreme Court on November 3, 2020 with 63.0% of the vote.
Retention Vote |
% |
Votes |
||
| ✔ | Yes |
63.0 |
200,598 | |
No |
37.0 |
117,660 | ||
Total Votes |
318,258 |
Analysis
Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)
Last updated: June 15, 2020
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.
The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on an ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. The scores were based on seven factors, including but not limited to party registration.[7]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[8]
- Mild Republican
- Strong Republican
This justice's Confidence Score, as well as the factors contributing to that score, is presented below. The information below was current as of June 2020.
Susan
Carney
Alaska
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Indeterminate - Judicial Selection Method:
Assisted appointment through hybrid judicial nominating commission - Key Factors:
- Donated less than $2,000 to Democratic candidates
Partisan Profile
Details:
Carney donated $275 to Democratic candidates and organizations.
Campaign themes
2020
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Susan Carney did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
State supreme court judicial selection in Alaska
- See also: Judicial selection in Alaska
The five justices on the Alaska Supreme Court are selected through the assisted appointed method. Each justice is appointed from a list of two or more nominees compiled by the Alaska Judicial Council.[9]
The initial term of a new justice is at least three years, after which the justice stands for retention in an uncontested yes-no election. Subsequent terms last ten years.[10] For more information on these elections, visit the Alaska judicial elections page.
Qualifications
To serve on this court, a justice must be:
- a U.S. citizen;
- a state resident for at least five years;
- licensed to practice law in the state;
- active in law practice for at least eight years; and
- under the age of 70.[11][12]
Chief justice
The chief justice is chosen by a vote of the other supreme court justices and serves a three-year term.[13]
Vacancies
The process of filling interim judicial vacancies is identical to that of filling ones that would occur at the end of a justice's term. The governor appoints a justice from a pool of names provided by the nominating commission. After occupying the seat for at least three years, the appointee runs in an uncontested yes-no retention election and, if retained, will serve a subsequent term of ten years.[14][15]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Carney to serve as Alaska Supreme Court chief justice, "Kodiak Daily Mirror," November 28, 2024
- ↑ Alaska Dispatch News, "Fairbanks attorney appointed as new Alaska Supreme Court justice," May 12, 2016
- ↑ We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.
- ↑ The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.
- ↑ Newsminder.com, "Fairbanks attorney named to Alaska Supreme Court," May 12, 2016
- ↑ Alaska Supreme Court, "Susan Carney," accessed June 11, 2021
- ↑ The seven factors were party registration, donations made to partisan candidates, donations made to political parties, donations received from political parties or bodies with clear political affiliation, participation in political campaigns, the partisanship of the body responsible for appointing the justice, and state trifecta status when the justice joined the court.
- ↑ An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.
- ↑ Alaska Judicial Council, "Selection Law - Constitutional and Statutory Provisions Concerning Judicial Selection: Alaska Constitution Article IV, Section 5. Nomination and Appointment," accessed March 23, 2023
- ↑ Alaska Judicial Council, "Constitutional and Statutory Provisions Concerning Judicial Retention/Evaluation: AS 15.35.030. Approval or rejection of supreme court justice," accessed March 23, 2023
- ↑ Alaska Judicial Council, "AS 22.05.070. Qualifications of justices," accessed March 23, 2023
- ↑ Alaska Judicial Council, "AS 22.25.010. Retirement of Justices and Judges," accessed March 23, 2023
- ↑ Alaska Court System, "Court System Information," accessed March 23, 2023
- ↑ Alaska Judicial Council, "Constitutional and Statutory Provisions Concerning Judicial Retention/Evaluation: AS 15.35.030. Approval or rejection of supreme court justice," accessed March 23, 2023
- ↑ Alaska Judicial Council, "Selection Law - Constitutional and Statutory Provisions Concerning Judicial Selection: Alaska Constitution Article IV, Section 5. Nomination and Appointment," accessed March 23, 2023
| 2020 State Judicial Elections | ||
|---|---|---|
| State supreme court elections by state | Alabama • Alaska • Arizona • Arkansas • Colorado • Florida • Georgia • Idaho • Illinois • Indiana • Iowa • Kansas • Kentucky • Louisiana • Maryland • Michigan • Minnesota • Mississippi • Missouri • Montana • Nebraska • Nevada • New Mexico • North Carolina • North Dakota • Ohio • Oklahoma • Oregon • South Dakota • Texas • Utah • Washington • West Virginia • Wisconsin • Wyoming |  |
| Intermediate appellate court elections by state | Alabama • Alaska • Arizona • Arkansas • Colorado • Florida • Georgia • Idaho • Illinois • Indiana • Iowa • Kansas • Kentucky • Louisiana • Maryland • Michigan • Minnesota • Missouri • Nebraska • Nevada • New Mexico • North Carolina • Ohio • Oklahoma • Oregon • Tennessee • Texas • Utah • Washington • Wisconsin |
