Daniel Winfree was selected unanimously on Wednesday as the chief justice of Alaska’s Supreme Court.
Under the Alaska Constitution, justices select the chief justice by a majority vote. The chief justice presides over Supreme Court arguments and conferences, and is the administrative head of the judicial branch of state government.
Winfree is from Fairbanks, and will be the first chief justice who was born in Alaska. He worked as a truck driver and in pipeline construction camps for the trans-Alaska pipeline. He also worked as a lawyer in private practice for 25 years before being appointed to the court by Gov. Sarah Palin in 2008.
Winfree’s term starts July 1, succeeding Chief Justice Joel Bolger. Winfree must retire by February 2023, when he reaches Alaska’s mandatory retirement age for judges of 70. This will prevent him from serving a full three-year term as chief justice.
Andrew Kitchenman is the state government and politics reporter for Alaska Public Media and KTOO in Juneau. Reach him at akitchenman@alaskapublic.org.
