Nesbett Courthouse in downtown Anchorage on Oct. 7, 2024. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
In the last days of Alaska’s election season, a no-budget, grassroots campaign is seeking to remove Anchorage Superior Court Judge Adolf Zeman from the state bench.
Alaska’s constitution allows voters to keep or reject judges on a regular basis, and Zeman is on ballots in Anchorage and other parts of Southeast Alaska.
It’s extraordinarily unusual for voters to evict a judge, but Zeman’s course may be different because of a ruling he made in April that struck down as unconstitutional the state’s popular correspondence allotment program, which distributes payments to the families of eligible homeschooled students.
The ruling was later reversed by the Alaska Supreme Court on technical grounds, and the case was sent back to Zeman for further work. It remains in his court.
The campaign against Zeman is being organized by two conservative organizations: Alaska Family Action and a local chapter of Moms for Liberty.