The Alaska Superior Court ordered the state to restore over $300,000 for the 2021 Fiscal Year in funding to the court system, by the start of January. The ruling, issued last week, states that “Governor [Mike] Dunleavy’s vetoes of $334,700 from the appellate courts’ budget…violate the separate of powers doctrine embodied in the Alaska Constitution.”
The ruling also notes that Dunleavy’s “veto of funds from the appeallate courts’ fiscal year 2021 budget is void,” and that the full sum must be restored. The ruling gives the state 30 days to refund the $344,700, as of the December 2 ruling date.
Dunleavy vetoed the $334,700 from the court system’s 2019-2020 budget over an Alaska Supreme Court ruling that struck down an anti-abortion law passed by the Alaska Legislature. That veto was repeated in the current budget. That has now been ruled an unconstitutional infringement on the court’s independence.
The ACLU of Alaska noted that they are preparing for further action by the state to reverse the decision, or delay it. In a Tuesday statement, they noted: “We hope he will respect the court’s ruling by restoring funding in the timely manner as ordered. The cost of his unwillingness to do right by Alaskans is reflected in the unnecessary strain this drawn-out legal process has caused on an already overburdened state system and budget.”
The Governor’s administration has not gone on the record with their plans to challenge the decision.