The United States District Court for the District of Alaska is a federal court in the Ninth Circuit.
The Alaska Supreme Court is the state supreme court for the U.S. state of Alaska. Its decisions are binding on all other Alaska state courts, and the only court its decisions may be appealed to is the Supreme Court of the United States. The Alaska Supreme Court hears appeals from lower state courts and also administers the state's judicial system.
Mahala Ashley Dickerson was an American lawyer and civil rights advocate for women and minorities. In 1948 she became the first African American female attorney admitted to the Alabama State Bar; in 1951 she was the second African American woman admitted to the Indiana bar; and in 1959 she was Alaska's first African American attorney. In 1983 Dickerson was the first African American to be elected president of the National Association of Women Lawyers. Her long legal career also helped to pave the way for other women attorneys. In 1995 the American Bar Association named her a Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement honoree.
Morgan Brenda Christen is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as a U.S. circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She previously served as a state court judge on the Alaska Supreme Court from 2009 to 2012 and on the Alaska Superior Court from 2002 to 2009.
Grace Berg Schaible was an American lawyer and politician. In 1987, she became Alaska's first female state attorney general, serving from 1987 to 1989. She also served as the chair of the Alaska Permanent Fund.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in the U.S. state of Alaska may face some legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT Alaskans. Same-sex sexual activity has been legal since 1980, and same-sex couples have been able to marry since October 2014. The state offers few legal protections against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, leaving LGBT people vulnerable to discrimination in housing and public accommodations; however, the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County established that employment discrimination against LGBT people is illegal under federal law. In addition, four Alaskan cities, Anchorage, Juneau, Sitka and Ketchikan, representing about 46% of the state population, have passed discrimination protections for housing and public accommodations.
Francis August Schaeffer Cox, known as Schaeffer Cox, is an American political activist, convicted felon, and founder of an organization called the Alaska Peacemakers Militia.
The Alaska Women's Hall of Fame (AWHF) recognizes women natives or residents of the U.S. state of Alaska for their significant achievements or statewide contributions. It was conceived by the board of directors of the Alaska Women's Network (AWN) in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Alaska's statehood. The large inaugural class of fifty women were inducted weeks after that anniversary, on March 6, 2009, with subsequent classes inducted every year since. As of the class of 2015, 135 women and one organization, the Sisters of Providence, have been honored. The principal organizations involved with the AWHF are the Zonta Club of Anchorage, the YWCA, Alaska Women for Political Action, the Anchorage Women's Commission, the University of Alaska Anchorage, Alaska Women's Network and the ATHENA Society.
Nora Guinn was an American judge. In 2009, she was inducted into the Alaska Women's Hall of Fame. She was the first woman and first Alaska Native to be a District Court Judge in Alaska.
Dorothy Awes Haaland was an American lawyer and politician. She served in the final Alaska Territorial Legislature when Alaska was still the Territory of Alaska. In 2009, she was added to the Alaska Women's Hall of Fame. She was the first woman to be admitted to the Alaska Bar Association.
Frank Roscoe Beckwith was a lawyer, civil rights activist, and politician from Indianapolis, Indiana. In 1960 he became the first African American to run as a candidate for President of the United States in a major-party primary.
The history of the Jews in Alaska began before the Alaska Purchase in 1867. Jews from Imperial Russia lived there periodically as fur traders, and a Jewish community has existed since the 1880s. The Klondike and Nome gold rushes attracted Jews to Alaska to seek their fortunes as miners and businessmen and resulted in the first organized Jewish communities. In the Nazi period, Jewish refugee resettlement in Alaska was seriously considered by the government, but after facing backlash, never came to be. Alaskan Jews played a significant role in business and politics before and after statehood, and have included mayors, judges, senators and governors. Today, there are Jews living in every urban area of the state.
L. Arlene “Buddy” Clay (1912–2016) was a symphony performer, volunteer plane spotter, and Alaskan judge.
Sadie Neakok or Tagiagiña was the first female magistrate in Alaska. She served in Alaska's Second Judicial District in Utqiaġvik, Alaska.
Dorothy D. Tyner was an American judge. She was, along with Mary Alice Miller, the first female judge in Alaska.
Pamela Scott Washington is an American judge. She was the first black woman and second black jurist to sit on the bench in Alaska.
Beverly Cutler is an American lawyer who was the first woman to sit on the state Superior Court in Alaska.
