Sitka judge appointed to Alaska Supreme Court

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Gov. Mike Dunleavy has appointed Sitka Superior Court Judge Jude Pate to the Alaska Supreme Court.

A press release issued Friday said that Dunleavy selected Pate from a list of candidates nominated by the Alaska Judicial Council. Pate will fill the vacant seat left by current Alaska Supreme Court Chief Justice Daniel Winfree, who is retiring.

The release says that Pate has lived in Alaska for 29 years and practiced law for 28 years. According to the state website, Pate graduated from the University of Kansas with a bachelor’s degree in journalism after attending high school in the Netherlands. He then received his juris doctor from the Lewis & Clark Northwestern School of Law in 1993.

According to the court system website, Pate served as counsel for the Sitka Tribe of Alaska for five years until 1999 and had a private practice for seven years until 2006. He then worked as an assistant public defender for the state of Alaska for 12 years until 2018, and has served on the Sitka Superior Court since 2018.

Pate also coaches the Sitka High School mock trials, has been a member of the Judicial Conference Planning Committee since 2020 and a member of the Fairness, Diversity, and Equality Committee since 2018.

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