Robert Eastaugh
From Judgepedia
| Alaska Supreme Court |
|---|
|
| Sitting justices |
| Dana Fabe Warren Matthews Robert Eastaugh Walter Carpeneti Daniel Winfree |
| 2008 retention votes |
| Robert Eastaugh |
| Former justices |
| Alaska on Judgepedia |
Robert L. Eastaugh (b. 1943) is an associate justice of the Alaska Supreme Court. He was first appointed to the state's highest court in 1994 by then-governor Walter Hickel, a Republican. Justice Eastaugh was subject to a retention election in 2008 for a new ten-year term on the court. He won this retention vote with 62.77% of the vote.[1]
Legal background
Justice Eastaugh holds a B.A. in English Literature from Yale University and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School
He was admitted to practice law in Alaska in 1968. He was an Alaska Assistant Attorney General from 1968 - 1969 and an Assistant District Attorney from 1969 - 1972. He was in private practice at Delaney, Wiles, Hayes, Reitman & Brubaker, Inc. between 1972 and 1994. His professional emphasis was on appeals. Governor Walter J. Hickel appointed him to the supreme court, and he duly took office on April 18, 1994. He has been co-chair of the Alaska Supreme Court's Fairness and Access Implementation Committee since 1998, has been a member of the Alaska Supreme Court's Appellate Rules Committee since 1985, chaired an Alaska Court System committee that revised personnel rules and procedures on discriminatory harassment, and was a Bar Examiner for the Alaska Bar Association in the early 1980's. He was a charter member of the Advisory Committee on Rules of Practice and Internal Operating Procedures for the Ninth Circuit, serving from 1983-1992. He chairs an Alaska Supreme Court committee to reduce appellate delay.
On the Issues
Justice Robert Eastaugh, was instrumental in two very important judicial rulings that had significant impact on the Alaskan family.
Justice Eastaugh was part of the majority that ruled that the parental consent law passed by the Legislature in 1997, was unconstitutional. This decision stripped away the rights of parents to oversee the health decisions of their minor children.
Justice Eastaugh also ruled that the State of Alaska and local governments are required to provide benefits equivalent to marriage to the same-sex partners of state, municipal and other local government employees. This ruling essentially nullified a Constitutional Amendment overwhelmingly passed by Alaskans in 1998 defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman.
2008 retention election
In his bid for retention, Justice Eastaugh was unsuccessfully opposed by the Alaska Republican Party.[2],[3]
The cases that the Alaska Republican Party cited in its objection to Eastaugh were:
- Alaska Department of Health and Social Services v. Planned Parenthood, a decision that requires the State of Alaska to pay for abortions through Medicaid.
- ACLU v. State of Alaska, a decision written by Eastaugh which determined that state and local governments in Alaska must provide the same employment benefits to same-sex couples that they provide to married couples.
- State of Alaska v. Planned Parenthood of Alaska, a 3-2 decision which overturned a statute that required teenagers who want an abortion to obtain either parental consent, or the permission of a judge.
External links
- Biographies of the Alaskan Supreme Court Justices
- 2008 retention recommendation for Eastaugh from the Alaska Judicial Council.
- Alaska 2008 judicial retention information (PDF). Scroll to pages 78-84.
