Get AK ADM-229 2015-2023

Each of the fifty states has at least one supreme court that serves as the highest court in the state; two states, Texas and Oklahoma, have separate supreme courts for civil and criminal matters. The five permanently inhabited U.S. territories, as well Washington, D.C., each have comparable supreme courts.

Alaska has a unified, centrally administered, and totally state-funded judicial system. Municipal governments do not maintain separate courts systems. The four levels of courts in the Alaska Court System are the supreme court, the court of appeals, the superior court and the district court.

Supreme Court Justices JusticeLocationAppointedPeter J. Maassen Chief JusticeAnchorage2012Susan M. CarneyFairbanks2016Dario BorghesanAnchorage2020Jennifer S. HendersonAnchorage20211 more row

Every state and territory has its own supreme court and every supreme court has tremendous power over legal cases and public policy within its borders—but the resemblances end there. No two courts are exactly the same.

The Alaska Supreme Court is the highest level of state court in Alaska. It hears appeals from lower state courts and also administers the state's judicial system. The Supreme Court includes five justices. The justices, by majority vote, select one of their members to be the chief justice.