Alaska Judge Orders DOJ Reply by Noon
A federal judge set a Friday deadline for the Department of Justice to respond to motions seeking to dismiss its bid to delay the state's Senate election certification.
By Kofi Costa ·
Voters in Alaska will go to the polls on Tuesday under a schedule that remains fluid as a federal judge accelerates legal battles over the U.S. Senate race. Judge Sharon Gleason of the U.S. District Court in Anchorage issued an order on Friday requiring the Department of Justice to respond to new dismissal motions by 1 p.m. Alaska Time.
The Department of Justice filed an amended complaint on Thursday, adding a new legal claim based on the Supremacy Clause to its original lawsuit filed on Oct. 23. This update rendered previous dismissal motions moot, prompting the judge to set a new timeline for the parties to react. State election officials and the campaign of Democratic nominee Mary Peltola are given until noon Saturday to file replies to the Justice Department's response.
The core dispute centers on the presence of two candidates with the surname Sullivan on the ballot. Incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan faces a retired school teacher named Daniel J. Sullivan. The Justice Department argues that the similar names could cause voter confusion, potentially skewing the results. The suit seeks to delay the certification of the election if the incumbent loses by a margin that the court finds attributable to this confusion.
Peltola's campaign and state officials contend that the federal government lacks the authority to intervene in this manner. Their dismissal motion argues that the Constitution reserves the regulation of federal elections to the states and Congress. They maintain that the National Voter Registration Act, the primary basis of the original suit, does not apply to this dispute because it does not involve voter registration issues.
The race carries national weight because the outcome may determine which party holds the majority in the Senate starting in January. Republicans currently occupy 53 of the 100 seats in the chamber. Alaska uses ranked choice voting for this election. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote in the initial count, the fourth-place finisher is eliminated, and their second choices are redistributed among the remaining candidates.
The amended complaint also references a Wednesday New York Times article. The report stated that aides to Peltola and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee helped recruit Daniel J. Sullivan to enter the race. Both the Peltola campaign and the DSCC deny involvement in the retiree's candidacy. The Justice Department's new filing includes these details as part of its updated legal arguments.
Judge Gleason's order leaves open the possibility that she will rule on the dismissal motions before Tuesday. Both the state and Peltola's campaign have requested a decision by Election Day. The judge has not yet indicated a specific date for her final ruling on the merits of the case.
