John v. Baker
Supreme Court of Alaska
982 P.2d 738, cert. denied, 528 U.S. 1182, 120 S.Ct. 1221 (1999), 145 L.Ed.2d 1121 (2000)
- Written by Lauren Groth, JD
Facts
Anita John (plaintiff) and John Baker (defendant) were Alaska Natives and had two children together. After John and Baker separated in 1993, they amicably co-parented their children for several years. In 1995, Baker, who was a member of the Northway Village Tribe, filed a petition in the Northway Tribal Court seeking sole custody of his kids. John agreed to Northway Tribal Court’s jurisdiction over the custody proceedings. The Northway Court granted shared custody to John and Baker. Baker, who was unhappy with this determination, filed a separate proceeding in Alaska state superior court. The state court granted Baker full custody. John appealed. John argued that the Northway Tribal Court had inherent sovereignty to adjudicate the custody proceedings, and the state court should have dismissed Baker’s case, as the dispute had already been properly adjudicated.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Fabe, J.)
Dissent
What to do next…
Here's why 802,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 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.
