Judiciary of Alaska

The Alaska Court System is the unified, centrally administered, and totally state-funded judicial system for the state of Alaska. The Alaska District Courts are the primary misdemeanor trial courts, the Alaska Superior Courts are the primary felony trial courts, and the Alaska Supreme Court and the Alaska Court of Appeals are the primary appellate courts. The chief justice of the Alaska Supreme Court is the administrative head of the Alaska Court System.

Alaska has four levels of state courts:

The district courts are the primary misdemeanor trial courts, the superior courts are the primary felony trial courts although they also sometimes hear appeals from the district courts, and the supreme court and the court of appeals are the primary appellate courts.

Alaska is separated into 4 judicial districts.

The Alaska Supreme Court is the state supreme court. The supreme court is composed of the chief justice and four associate justices. They choose one of their own members to serve a three-year term as chief justice.

The decisions of the Alaska Supreme Court are binding on all other Alaska state courts, and the only other courts that may reverse or modify those decisions are the United States federal courts. The Supreme Court hears appeals from lower state courts and also administers the state's judicial system. The Alaska Supreme Court is required to hear appeals in civil cases in the first instance and is not able to exercise its discretion whether to consider appeals previously heard by other appellate courts.

The Alaska Court of Appeals is an intermediary court of appeals for criminal cases, and is composed of a chief judge and two associate judges. The chief judge of the court of appeals is selected from among the three by the chief justice of the supreme court to serve a two-year term. The court of appeals has jurisdiction to hear appeals from judgments in criminal cases and certain other quasi-criminal cases in which a minor is accused of committing a crime (juvenile delinquency cases), cases in which prisoners are challenging the legality of their confinement (habeas corpus and post-conviction relief matters), and cases involving probation and parole decisions. Also, a defendant in a criminal case who appeals from district court to superior court can ask the court of appeals to review the resulting decision of the superior court, but the court of appeals may, in its discretion, refuse to hear the appeal.

The Alaska superior courts are the trial courts of general jurisdiction. The court hears appeals from the district court.