US Senate confirms Aaron Peterson as Alaska’s newest federal judge
- Alaska Beacon
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
The confirmation fills one of two vacant seats in the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska; no one has yet been nominated for the other
By James Brooks
Alaska Beacon
One of Alaska’s two federal judge vacancies has been filled.
The U.S. Senate voted 58-39 on Wednesday to confirm state natural resources attorney Aaron Peterson to serve as the state’s newest federal judge. In a legal notice published soon after the vote, Peterson said he would be resigning immediately from the Alaska Department of Law.
Alaska has three federal judgeships, but has had only one sitting judge since Joshua Kindred resigned in July 2024 amid a misconduct scandal.
Peterson, a registered Republican, will replace Judge Tim Burgess, who retired on the last day of 2021. That vacancy was one of the oldest unfilled seats in the entire U.S. federal court system.
With only one full-time judge on staff, Alaska’s federal court has relied on judges from other states and semi-retired judges on senior status.
The margin on Peterson’s confirmation was unusually bipartisan, with six Democrats joining most of the Senate’s Republicans in favor. All 39 “no” votes were from Democrats, and three senators did not vote.
Among the Democrats voting “yes” was Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the ranking opposition member on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Durbin’s office did not respond to a question asking why he voted to confirm.
Last year, answering questions proffered by Durbin, Peterson declined to say President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election and declined to opine on the legality of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, saying the issue could come before him as a judge.
Carl Tobias, Williams Chair in Law at the University of Richmond School of Law, has been following Peterson’s confirmation process.
“It wasn’t a party line vote. And so I think that means that some of the Democrats are signaling that if a person looks like he’s going to be competent, as I think Peterson will be, then they’re going to move forward and vote for that person,” he said.
Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, organized a committee that examined Peterson’s judicial application and forwarded it to President Donald Trump for official nomination. The committee bypassed the usual procedure, which relies on advice from the Alaska Bar Association.
“I’m confident that he will be a great federal judge for our state,” he said in a prepared written statement.
In an application reviewed by the Senate’s judiciary committee, Peterson said he applied for the job after a member of Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s federal transition team encouraged him to do so.
That team was formed during the changeover between President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump.
According to the information Peterson submitted to the U.S. Senate’s judiciary committee, he was born in Anchorage in 1981 and served in the U.S. Air Force from 2000 to 2003 before attending the University of Alaska Anchorage, graduating in 2007. He attended Gonzaga University School of Law and graduated in 2010. He was admitted to the Alaska bar that year.
He returned to Alaska after graduation, serving first as a clerk to Judge Michael Spaan of the Anchorage Superior Court, then as a prosecutor with the Municipality of Anchorage.
Peterson worked in the Anchorage District Attorney’s office starting in 2012, including on violent felonies, such as murder and sexual assault. He moved to the Department of Law’s office of special prosecutions in 2015 before beginning work with the Department of Law’s natural resources section in 2019.
“Throughout his career, which includes military service, Aaron has demonstrated a commitment to the rule of law and federalism. Aaron is a lifelong Alaskan and knows and understands our great state and the unique federal laws that impact us,” Sullivan said.
Tobias watched Peterson’s confirmation hearings from Virginia.
“Watching his hearings and the discussion of him, it seems like —especially in Alaska — he does have that expertise on natural resource issues from pretty long experience, and so it seems like that’s a good match,” he said.
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, didn’t participate in Peterson’s application process but offered her support after Trump nominated Peterson and voted for his confirmation on Wednesday.
“I look forward to Mr. Peterson hitting the ground running to help an overworked court, while working to address and reform the culture of abuse and low morale that has permeated the District Court in recent years,” Murkowski said in a prepared written statement. “Mr. Peterson is a born-and-raised Alaskan with a strong record of legal practice in our state, including in natural resources and criminal and civil law, and his leadership will be invaluable to Alaska. We now turn our focus to filling the remaining vacancy as soon as possible.”
• James Brooks is a longtime Alaska reporter, having previously worked at the Anchorage Daily News, Juneau Empire, Kodiak Mirror and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Alaska Beacon is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
