Alaska may be experiencing a judicial crisis rivaling the Watergate scandal. Critics claim it involves a judge who committed perjury, the suppression of a Grand Jury investigation, and unconstitutional changes to the Alaska Constitution. If the allegations are correct, the Alaska judiciary has been corrupted, and radical change is required.

Our founding fathers knew that our form of government could eventually face this problem, so they built a series of checks and balances into our Constitution. One of those checks on the court system is the Grand Jury. The Grand Jury was adopted in this country as part of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, intended to protect citizens and check the judiciary’s power.

Most Alaskans view grand juries’ only role as reviewing the information presented by prosecutors and deciding if there is enough evidence to proceed with cases. While that is one of their two roles, their most important duty is “to inquire into the willful misconduct in office of public officers and to find indictments in connection therewith.” It now appears public officers have taken great pains to hide this second role from the general public.

…the fact remains that the Alaska Grand Jury system indicted an Alaska judge for a felony, wrote a report on their recommendations, and the courts stifled both, doing everything they could to make the case go away.

One key aspect of the Grand Jury process is the ability of a citizen to appeal directly to a Grand Jury with claims against the government, bypassing prosecutors and the formal court system. Unfortunately, the Grand Jury system in Alaska appears to have been compromised.

This came to light because of the alleged crimes of a retired state judge named Margaret Murphy, an apparent cover-up by the Alaska Commission on Judicial Conduct, and a Grand Jury investigating this matter in 2022. After their investigation, a Grand Jury in Kenai indicted Murphy for perjury, a class C felony in Alaska. They also wrote a report on their findings. You can read about that case here, here, and here.

Margaret Murphy was indicted but not convicted because her case was dismissed on a technicality. While presiding Judge Thomas Matthews may have found a loophole to dismiss the case and avoided having to try a fellow state judge for a felony, it doesn’t remove Margaret Murphy’s scarlet letter of an indictment. It also calls into question why Murphy allegedly committed perjury in the first place. Was it to cover up other more serious crimes?

Following the dismissal of the case against Murphy, Judge Matthews took an extraordinary and unprecedented action of sealing the Grand Jury report with its recommendations. Matthews hid the report from the public so that no one would ever know the full extent of Margaret Murphy’s alleged crimes and whether there had been a government cover-up. This is extraordinary because Article 1, Section 8 of Alaska’s constitution states, “The power of grand juries to investigate and make recommendations concerning the public welfare or safety shall never be suspended.”

Whatever his reasons, the fact remains that the Alaska Grand Jury system indicted an Alaska judge for a felony, wrote a report on their recommendations, and the courts stifled both, doing everything they could to make the case go away. This has the appearance of impropriety and requires additional investigation, but neither our governor nor Legislature has done anything about it.

Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy holds ultimate responsibility for the integrity of the actions in the executive branch in Alaska.

These actions alone are important, but an action taken in response to the Murphy indictment raised additional concerns. After the Kenai Grand Jury indicted Margaret Murphy in 2023, the Alaska Supreme Court issued Supreme Court Order 1993, effectively neutering the Grand Jury process in Alaska. That order changes the Alaska Constitution and requires all future Grand Jury investigations to be conducted “with the assistance and oversight of the prosecuting attorney.”

This removed the Grand Jury’s fundamental independence and meant their investigations could only be conducted with the approval and agreement of the state prosecutor, making them subordinate to the court system. It gives the state veto power over the Grand Juries’ actions, which is precisely the opposite of the intent of our founding fathers when they wrote the Constitution.

Critics say Supreme Court Order 1993 was an illegal change to the Alaska Constitution. You could argue that because of this action, all five members of the Supreme Court have betrayed their oaths and should face impeachment. Yet again, neither the governor nor the legislature has done anything about the court’s action.

Following the dismissal of the Margaret Murphy case, the sealing of the Grand Jury’s recommendation, and the issuance of SCO 1993, concerned citizens petitioned the Governor to appoint an independent commission to publicly investigate these allegations.

Why did the Governor and Legislature do nothing to challenge the unconstitutional actions of Alaska’s Supreme Court?

On February 12th, concerned citizens met with the Alaska Department of Law, represented by Deputy Attorney General Cori Mills and Chief Assistant Attorney General Anne Helzer. Citizens presented the case supporting the fraud in the Alaska judiciary and the unconstitutional actions of the Alaska Supreme Court.

While we wait for action from the Department of Law, it is important to note that they report through Attorney General Treg Taylor to Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy, who holds ultimate responsibility for the integrity of the actions in the executive branch in Alaska.

As of this writing, many significant questions remain unanswered that cast doubt about the integrity and honesty of the Alaska Judiciary. These questions include,

— What crimes did retired Judge Margaret Murphy perjure herself about?

— What incriminating information was suppressed in the Grand Jury recommendation that Judge Matthews sealed?

— Why did the Alaska Supreme Court neuter the Grand Jury process?

— Why is the State Attorney General’s office avoiding investigating this potential corruption?

— Why did the Governor and Legislature do nothing to challenge the unconstitutional actions of Alaska’s Supreme Court?

— If the Grand Jury system is hobbled, who polices the judiciary?

This issue has gone on for long enough. Governor Dunleavy needs to understand that these events occurred during his term as governor. Since the case has now been presented to the Department of Law, it can no longer be ignored. The governor now owns the problem.

Like Richard Nixon’s presidency, which was destroyed by his attempts to hide the original sin of the Watergate break-in, Governor Mike Dunleavy now owns the problem of judicial corruption. If he fails to take decisive action, he will be responsible for the cover-up.

It is time for Governor Dunleavy to appoint a special Commission to investigate these allegations. Not just because it will allow the governor to keep his record clean but because it is the right thing to do for the state.

Governor Dunleavy, you are either part of the solution to judicial corruption in Alaska or part of the cover-up. Which is it going to be?

The views expressed here are those of Greg Sarber. Read more Sarber posts at his Seward’s Folly substack.

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