Dunleavy v. Alaska Legislative Council
Alaska Supreme Court
498 P.3d 608 (2021)
- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
Under the Alaska Constitution, agency heads in the Alaska state government were appointed by the governor and confirmed by a majority of the Alaska legislature in joint session. Under an Alaska statute, if the legislature failed to act to confirm a governor appointee, that failure to act was tantamount to a rejection of the appointment. In 2020, Governor Mike Dunleavy (defendant) presented over 90 appointments for legislative confirmation. After the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Alaska legislature (plaintiff) enacted legislation extending its deadline to confirm the appointments until after the public-health emergency ended. After the expiration of the public-health emergency, the legislature did not act on the appointments by the new deadline, thus rendering them effectively rejected under the statute. The day after the deadline, Dunleavy sent the legislature a letter stating his belief that the pending appointments could continue to serve as recess appointments. The legislature filed suit in superior court, seeking a declaration that the appointments were invalid. The superior court granted the legislature summary judgment. Dunleavy appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Maassen, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,500 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
