Chief Justice to Retire

ANCHORAGE — On Nov. 25, Alaska’s Chief Justice Joel Bolger announced that he plans to retire at the end of his three-year term on June 30, 2021. Bolger announced his plans to retire to Gov. Mike Dunleavy in an effort to provide a smooth transition as filling judicial vacancies can become a lengthy process.

“The Alaska constitution prescribes a system for selecting judges based on merit, which requires a comprehensive evaluation of judicial candidates by the Alaska Judicial Council,” reads a press release from the Alaska Court System.

Bolger is the only person in Alaska to be appointed to all four levels of the Judiciary. In 1997, Gov. Tony Knowles appointed Bolger to the Valdez District Court. Bolger was then appointed to the Kodiak Superior Court by Gov. Frank Murkowski in 2003 and to the Appeals Court in 2008 by Gov. Sarah Palin. In 2013, Gov. Sean Parnell appointed Bolger to the Alaska Supreme Court.

“Chief Justice extends his gratitude to all of the judges and court staff who have worked so hard to continue to provide fair and impartial access to justice during the trying circumstances of the current global pandemic,” reads the press release.

With a long and storied career behind the bench, Bolger spent much of his career in rural Alaska. Bolger served as a VISTA volunteer attorney in Dillingham, assistant Public Defender in Utqiagvik and a private practice firm in Kodiak.

Chief Justice Bolger serves on a number of judicial committees including as Chair of the Family Justice Initiative at the National Center for State Courts. Bolger serves as the Commissioner of the Alaska Criminal Justice Commission and previously served as the second Vice President of the Conference of Chief Justices as Chair of the Fairness Diversity and Equity Committee and Judicial Conference Planning Committee. Bolger also served as a member of the Criminal Pattern Jury Instructions Committee, Appellate Rules Committee and Child Support Review Committee as well as the Family Law Rules Committee.