Law Commons^™

"Still Broken": Alaska Rule Of Professional Conduct 8.4(F) And (G)'S Insufficient Response To Workplace Harassment By Lawyers, Sam Turner

Alaska Law Review

A report by Women Lawyers On Guard, entitled "Still Broken," reported the results of a 2019 survey about sexual harassment and misconduct in the legal profession. It concluded that issues relating to sexual harassment and misconduct in the legal profession had not improved in the past thirty years. This Article looks at the Alaska Rules of Professional Conduct's rule regarding harassment and discrimination by lawyers and argues that the rule does not sufficiently address workplace harassment by lawyers.

Alaska Rule of Professional Conduct 8.4(f), enacted in 2021, prohibits harassment or invidious discrimination by a lawyer "in the lawyer's dealings with …

Alaska's Recognition Of Tribes: Alaska House Bill 123 And Tribal Trust Lands, Gloria R. Jacobsen

Alaska Law Review

For decades, the United States Department of the Interior's land acquisition regulations included an "Alaska Exception" that barred acquisition of land into trust in Alaska apart from those acquisitions made for the Metlakatla Indian Community. Although the "Alaska Exception" was initially removed from the regulations in 2014, the fight continues over land-into-trust acquisitions within Alaska. Throughout these debates, the state of Alaska has consistently opposed land-into-trust acquisitions. This Practitioner Guide provides an overview of the recent history of land-into-trust acquisitions in Alaska and analyzes the juxtaposition of the intent behind Alaska's "State Recognition of Tribes" in House Bill 123 and …

Kohlhaas V. State: Encouraging Democratic Reform Through Constitutional Flexibility, Allyson Barkley, Connor Sakati

Alaska Law Review

In the spirit of democracy reform, Alaska recently adopted a jungle primary and ranked choice voting electoral system for all state-wide elections. In Kohlhaas v. State, the Alaska Supreme Court upheld this reform against numerous state and federal constitutional challenges. While doing so, the court avoided rigid constitutional interpretations that would have frozen the electoral system in its current first-past-the-post state. Moreover, the court refused to credit the plaintiff's speculation about the hypothetical malign effects of ranked-choice voting, placing the burden to produce hard evidence of their critiques on RCV's opponents. Alaska can serve as a model for other …

Facial Recognition Ai: Alaska Is An Ideal Forum For Introducing Regulation, Sarah Edwards

Alaska Law Review

As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly commonplace, we are all exposed to shockingly dystopian forms of surveillance. This Note details the unique danger of facial recognition technologies powered by artificial intelligence. First, this Note examines the rise of facial recognition technologies in both the public and the private sector. It illustrates this phenomenon by highlighting a few key players in both the development and implementation of facial recognition. Second, it proceeds by examining the current privacy landscape in Alaska. Alaska's unique focus on privacy rights makes the State a promising forum for regulation. Finally, it provides possible statutory and judicial solutions …

Blight Made Right: Defects In State Condemnation Laws And A Roadmap For Reform In Alaska And Beyond, Sam Spiegelman

Alaska Law Review

Susette Kelo's old house in New London, Connecticut is long gone, as is the entire Fort Trumbull neighborhood that once surrounded it. In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court decided a case—Kelo v. City of New London—that cost her and her neighbors their homes and sparked a wave of state-level reforms to mitigate its potential damage to private property. In Kelo, the Court held that "economic development" as a "public purpose" was also a legitimate "public use" under the Fifth Amendment's Takings Clause, which provides "nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation." As Justice …

Note From The Editor

Alaska Law Review

No abstract provided.

Journal Staff

Alaska Law Review

No abstract provided.

Among The Rarest: Saving The Eastern North Pacific Right Whale, Elza Bouhassira

Alaska Law Review

The North Pacific Right Whale (NPRW) is perhaps the rarest, most endangered large whale species in the world. Only about thirty surviving individuals make up the eastern population, which lives in waters around Alaska. This note aims to highlight the crisis facing eastern NPRWs and the steps that can be taken to support the recovery of this rare whale. The paper first presents information on the history of the species and its importance. It next examines existing international and domestic U.S. legal regimes as well as a pending petition to revise NPRW critical habitat off of Alaska. Finally, it advances …

Note From The Editor

Alaska Law Review

No abstract provided.

Sustainable Mining Challenges: Alaska Water Permitting And The United States Green Energy Transition, Morgan Pettit

Alaska Law Review

This Note addresses the myriad of legal and regulatory barriers new mining projects face in Alaska at present. These barriers have become increasingly important at a time when the United States has sought to bolster its domestic mineral supply chain. With over 100 newly located critical mineral deposits, Alaska may be the best place in the United States to establish further domestic sources of critical minerals. By streamlining the regulatory process at both the federal and state level, Alaska can better (1) protect domestic supply chains from global disruptions; (2) maximize the economic benefits of meeting increased global demand for …

Journal Staff

Alaska Law Review

No abstract provided.

In The Dark: State V. Alaska Legislative Council And Public-School Funding In The Face Of The Dedicated Funds Clause, Joe Perry

Alaska Law Review

In the past several years, Alaska has faced many challenges in its public education system. These challenges gave rise to an intense political debate, significant new legislation, and a protracted battle over the future of funding for public education. Governor Mike Dunleavy and the state legislature publicly clashed over the implementation of H.B. 287, a 2018 state law designed to provide financial stability to ailing schools and curtail teacher layoffs. In 2022, the Supreme Court of Alaska resolved the dispute in favor of the governor and found a contentious piece of state legislation unconstitutional under the states "Dedicated Funds Clause." …

Towards Better Local Governance In Alaska's Unorganized Borough, Jake Sherman

Alaska Law Review

Alaska's unorganized borough is the only unincorporated county-equivalent area in the entire United States, but the Alaska Constitution never envisioned that would be the case. The framers of the Alaska Constitution drafted a revolutionary article on local government that prioritized localism—participation in local government—to further democratic engagement in the state. Recognizing that much of rural Alaska lacked the population and infrastructure to support incorporated and localized self-governance in the 1950s, the framers opted not to automatically incorporate the entire state under various borough governments. Even so, the framers made clear that the state was to play an active role in …

Note From The Editor

Alaska Law Review

No abstract provided.

Indian Child Welfare Act: A Roadblock In A Native Child's Pathway To Permanency, Melissa Gustafson

Alaska Law Review

The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) requires the testimony of a qualified expert witness to support, beyond a reasonable doubt, the termination of parental rights in cases involving Native children. Initially, Congress expressed a preference for qualified expert witnesses to possess intimate knowledge of Native tribes' childrearing norms and practices. However, the permissive language of the 2016 Regulations has deemphasized this preference. Instead, the Alaska Supreme Court has interpreted the 2016 Regulations as requiring an expert to be qualified to testify about the mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing of children, therefore requiring formalized education in these areas of study. This …

Fishing In The Desert: Modernizing Alaskan Salmon Management To Protect Fisheries And Preserve Fishers' Livelihoods, Connor Sakati

Alaska Law Review

Many Alaskan salmon fisheries are in distress, threatening fishers' livelihoods, food sources, and cultures. This crisis—and the few, blunt tools managers possess to address it— reveals that the current state and federal legal framework for salmon management is inadequate to protect fisheries' health and preserve fishers' livelihoods, especially as the ocean warms and the distribution of species within it significantly changes. First, the current framework's regulatory tools, designed to combat human overuse of a single species, are poorly tailored to mitigating this multicausal, ecosystem-wide crisis. Current science indicates marine heatwaves, habitat degradation, and human use may be major culprits of …

Beyond Indian Country: The Sovereign Powers Of Alaska Tribes Without Reservations, Mitchell Forbes

Alaska Law Review

The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 (ANCSA) devised a land entitlement system markedly different from the Indian reservation system that prevailed in the Lower 48 states. It directed the creation of twelve, for-profit Alaska Native regional corporations and over 200 private, for-profit Alaska Native village corporations, which would receive the bulk of Native land in the state. This corporate model left nearly all tribes in Alaska without a land base. As such, there is very little Indian Country land in the state over which tribes can exercise territorial-based sovereignty. Yet, the Supreme Court has long recognized the power …

Issues In Implementing Special Domestic Violence Criminal Jurisdiction In Alaska's Tribal Courts, Danika Watson

Alaska Law Review

Until 2022, all but one of the 229 Alaska tribes were barred from special domestic violence criminal jurisdiction (SDVCJ): Congress's jurisdictional tool for tribal courts to address domestic violence and hold perpetrators of violence against Alaska Native women criminally accountable. The reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in 2022 brought SDVCJ to Alaska's rural Native communities. This landmark achievement was made possible by decades of advocacy from Alaska's tribal, state, and federal leadership. In the wake of VAWA 2022, Alaska tribes and tribal justice systems face several significant legal, political, and cultural challenges. This Article outlines the legal …

The Unique Promise Of The Alaska Constitution: The Right To Rehabilitation, Adam Beyer

Alaska Law Review

The Alaska Constitution creates a unique promise for those convicted of crimes. In Abraham v. State, the Alaska Supreme Court held that article I, § 12 grants offenders a "right to rehabilitation." Such a right is uncommon; few states, if they have similar protections at all, have labeled it a right. In the years since Abraham, the Court has occasionally addressed claims invoking the right, making clear that its decision was not an aberration. The court's most thorough examination of the right occurred this term in Department of Corrections v. Stefano. This article seeks to examine and clarify …

Law Thrown Overboard: Direct Democracy And The Alaska Ocean Rangers, Hannah Rogers

Alaska Law Review

Alaska is one of the premier cruise destinations in the world. The vessels' many amenities and luxuries, however, come with a price: cruise ships produce an inordinate amount of waste, most of which is dumped into the ocean. In 2006, Alaska voters passed a ballot measure establishing a program called the Ocean Rangers, which would monitor cruise ships in Alaskan waters to ensure that vessels were disposing of waste in accordance with state and federal law. In 2019, after an unsuccessful attempt in the state legislature to end the Ocean Rangers program, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy vetoed the entirety of …

Journal Staff

Alaska Law Review

No abstract provided.

Heat Waves And A Public-Private Partnership In Alaska, Karen Sandrik, Sarah Matsumoto

Alaska Law Review

The recently-passed Inflation Reduction Act represents the largest single step that Congress has taken to combat harms from climate change. In its over $360 billion commitment, the Act incentivizes clean energy development and generation, includes methods to directly lower residential utility bills and increase home efficiency, promotes cleaner transportation and agricultural practices, and funds states' and cities' efforts to meet their individual climate goals. While many environmental organizations applauded the Act's passage, some—even simultaneously—expressed concern about its tradeoffs: the Act continues to invest in fossil fuels, subsidizing pipeline construction and guaranteeing new oil and gas leases, specifically expanding leasing in …

Journal Staff

Alaska Law Review

No abstract provided.

Keynote Address: Alaska Native Peoples And The Environment, Elizabeth Saagulik Hensley, Esq.

Alaska Law Review

No abstract provided.

Coastal Marine Debris In Alaska: Problems With Plastics, Pollution, & Policy, Savannah Artusi

Alaska Law Review

Plastics pollute people and the planet throughout their lifecycle, from intensive extraction of raw materials to chemical leaching during their use to entangling animals in discarded plastic products. Plastic waste is especially troublesome in Alaska, where the state's extensive shoreline and coastal communities are disproportionately inundated with plastic marine debris. Current policies internationally, in the United States, and in Alaska have not done enough to prevent plastic waste from ending up on Alaska's coasts, to hold plastic producers accountable for that waste, or to provide Alaskan communities the support needed to remove the waste themselves. This Note offers several proposals …

Wilderness V. Oil: Resource Balancing In The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Megan Mason Dister

Alaska Law Review

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), a national wildlife refuge in a remote region of Alaska, has captured the national spotlight for decades due to conflicting viewpoints on how to manage the refuge's resources. ANWR is home to a large population of diverse species and Alaska Native communities. However, it may also contain large quantities of oil. Debates over ANWR resource management often provide only two options: preserve the Coastal Plain as wilderness or allow energy development. In 2017, a congressional budget resolution opened a portion of ANWR (the Coastal Plain) to oil and gas leasing for the first time. …

Note From The Editor

Alaska Law Review

No abstract provided.

Protecting Subsistence Lands While Boosting The Bottom Line: The Enhanced Federal Tax Incentive Available To Alaska Native Corporations For Donations Of Conservation Easements, Timothy Troll, Konrad Liegel

Alaska Law Review

Alaska Native corporations face a dilemma. They own land of immense and significant cultural and ecological value. Their lands are critical for maintaining the Alaska Natives' subsistence needs. But they are also corporations established under the law to maximize the economic value of their land holdings to provide financial dividends to their Native shareholders. This paper explores the enhanced federal tax incentive for donations of perpetual conservation easements that became available in 2015 to Alaska Native corporations. The tax incentive offers Alaska Native corporations a way to protect the aboriginal lands conveyed to them under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement …

The Kenai Rule In Four Acts: Bear Baiting, Firearms, And Hunting: Comment & Analysis Of Alaska V. Bernhardt, Jon C. Nachtigal, Mike Stocz

Alaska Law Review

The Kenai Rule, enacted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2016, prohibits (a) the hunting of brown bears with bait in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, (b) most hunting in the Skilak Wildlife Recreation Area, and (c) the discharge of firearms along the Kenai and Russian Rivers. The Kenai Rule was challenged by the State of Alaska and Safari Club International in Alaska v. Bernhardt. This Comment provides an overview of the case as it was heard in the District Court of Alaska. This discussion includes arguments and counterarguments surrounding the application of four legislative acts: the …

Strangers In Their Own Land: A Survey Of The Status Of The Alaska Native People From The Russian Occupation Through The Turn Of The Twentieth Century, Jon W. Katchen, Nicholas Ostrovsky

Alaska Law Review

The federal government's scattershot treatment of Alaska Natives has long created confusion over the legal status and rights of Alaska Natives and Alaska Native entities. This confusion was center stage in the recent Supreme Court case, Yellen v. Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation, involving "Indian Tribe" entitlement to CARES Act relief funds. To better understand the reason uncertainty remains after more than 150 years since the purchase of Alaska from Russia, and more than sixty years after Alaska's statehood, we must look to the unique history of Alaska Natives. Starting in the mid-1700s, this Article surveys the laws …