Trump excluded Murkowski, sided with Sullivan on federal court judge pick
Sen. Dan Sullivan said he has a “red line” that no Alaska federal judge nominees are allowed to cross.
The Sullivan mandate is that anyone trying to become a federal judge in Alaska cannot be anything like Sharon Gleason, the first woman to serve as a district judge in Alaska.
Speaking to reporters in Juneau seven months ago, Sullivan claimed Gleason has done “more damage to our state that almost anyone” with rulings he doesn’t like.
He didn’t name Gleason at first, but he confirmed that he was talking about the only Alaska federal judge now working full-time.
“I don’t want to get specific, but we have a couple district judges that rule with the far left radical environmental groups every single time. And that judge, in my view, has done more damage to our state than almost anyone imaginable. And I’m trying to make sure we don’t put more people like that on the bench,” Sullivan said, referring to Gleason.
Sullivan blocked any replacement for one judicial vacancy throughout the Biden administration. The second vacancy stems from Josh Kindred’s forced resignation in 2024, a fiasco that Sullivan blames on Murkowski and a lack of due diligence.
Sullivan had lavish praise for Kindred, however, in 2020 Senate testimony, claiming he would make a fantastic judge.
“I believe he will serve with honor,” Sullivan said of Kindred. Sullivan said he was “impressed with his fierce commitment to upholding the rule of law” and his integrity.
On March 20 this year, Sullivan said he and Murkowski disagreed on which nominees they could support during the final months of the Biden administration.
“I worked, tried hard to try and get compromise, but I do have, I have a red line. And my red line is we’re not gonna have another judge like the one that we were talking about,” Sullivan said in March, referring to Gleason.
“I’m not gonna, I am, I’m gonna make sure Alaska does not get a federal judge who sides with the far left radical enviros on every case. That’s just, that’s my red line,” he said.
Sullivan’s claim about Gleason has been rejected by other attorneys. There are obvious examples of cases where Gleason did not rule with the “far left radical enviros.” Sullivan wants an activist judge who favors Sullivan’s point of view.
To get judge applicants that fall within Sullivan’s red line, he created a hand-picked group that is led by former Gov. Sean. Parnell and operates in secret. Among the other nembers are former Lt. Gov. Loren Leman and Attorney General Stephen Cox. Sullivan said his committee is OK because it is “not all Republicans.” It has a majority politically aligned with Sullivan.
Sullivan said Murkowski would be involved in his process, but that didn’t happen.
The first judicial nominee to emerge from Sullivan’s hand-picked committee is attorney Aaron C. Peterson, who grew up in Anchorage and has worked at the Department of Law since 2012 in different positions.
Peterson is to be nominated by President Trump to fill one of the judicial vacancies in Alaska, according to reporting by the Daily News.
Peterson has a lot of experience in fish and game cases.
Murkowski was left entirely out of the selection process by Sullivan and the Trump administration. She told the Anchorage Daily News that she met Peterson last week and will support him.
Peterson, who is about 44, grew up in Anchorage, spent three years in the Air Force, graduated from UAA in finance in 2007 and earned a law degree from Gonzaga in 2010.
Peterson wrote that an attorney working for Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who he did not name, suggested to Peterson on January 21 this year that he submit his name to Sullivan’s committee to try and become a federal judge.
Sulivan’s nine-member council interviewed Peterson on March 19 and Sullivan interviewed Peterson 10 days later. White House lawyers interviewed him on June 4 in Washington, D.C. and he was informed of a “potential nomination” on September 16.
Peterson did not mention any contact with Murkowski or any interviews with her after he applied to become a judge in January.
“I am scheduled to meet with Sen. Murkowski on October 23, 2025,” he wrote on the last day of September.
Murkowski told the Daily News that the White House told her that Peterson would be nominated and she talked to Peterson last week. She said she would support him.
On his application, Peterson wrote that he joined the right-wing Federalist Society this year.
I’m not sure what to make of that. Perhaps he was encouraged to do so by Sullivan, who might have found the lack of membership a deficiency in Peterson’s resume, or a telling indicator when looking for evidence to enforce his red line.
Sullivan said in March he would not release the names of people who applied to become federal judges because it would be a “bad mark” if they did not get nominated. Sullivan said a lot more people applied because they knew their names would be secret.
Under Murkowski’s approach we not only know the names and have the resumes of applicants, but also the results of a poll of the members of the Alaska Bar Association about their opinions regarding the qualifications of the applicants.
Here is a list of the applicants under the Murkowski process and the bar poll results.
Here are their letters of application and their resumes.
Sullivan claims that his selection committee is “based on the model of Alaska’s state judicial council,” a Sullivan press release claimed on September 19, 2023.
The Alaska Judicial Council process is nothing at all like the Sullivan/Parnell secret committee, which is accountable to no one except Sullivan.
When the Alaska Judicial Council meets and votes on applicants, it releases that information to the public, along with the details on how the council members vote.
The Alaska Judicial Council posts the biographical statements submitted by applicants on its website.
The Alaska Judicial Council has a thorough application form that is focused on solid questions about judicial performance, not the overtly political questionnaire developed by the Sullivan/Parnell secret committee.
The completed Alaska Judicial Council applications are available for all to read. The Sullivan/Parnell secret committee questionnaires “will be kept confidential,” according to Sullivan.
At a minimum, Alaskans and members of the U.S. Senate deserve to see what Peterson wrote on his application to Sullivan’s committee, as it is not the same document as the form released by the Senate and it would reveal a lot about Peterson.
Sullivan asked applicants these questions, among others:
Do you have a judge or justice (whether still alive or not) whom you most admire, and why?
What do you believe is the most important or consequential U.S. Supreme Court decision and why?
Why do you want to be a federal judge?
What is the role of a federal judge?
What is your approach or preferred method for interpreting the meaning of federal regulations, statutes, and constitutional provisions? Please explain any difference in these approaches.
What is your approach to criminal sentencing?
Your contributions help support independent analysis and political commentary by Alaska reporter and author Dermot Cole. Thank you for reading and for your support. Either click here to use PayPal or send checks to: Dermot Cole, Box 10673, Fairbanks, AK 99710-067