By Sentinel Staff
At 12:46 p.m. today Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced the appointment of Sitka Superior Court Judge Jude Pate to the Alaska Supreme Court.
Judge Jude Pate. (Sentinel File)
Dunleavy chose Pate from the short list of four nominees forwarded by the Alaska Judicial Council. On the Supreme Court Pate will replace Justice Dan Winfree, who retired.
Pate has lived in Sitka since moving here in 1993, the year he graduated from Lewis and Clark Northwestern School of Law. He was legal counsel for Sitka Tribe of Alaska until 1999, when he went into private practice for seven years. He was an assistant public defender in Sitka for 12 years before Gov. Bill Walker appointed him Superior Court judge, in February 2018.
At the time, Pate received high marks from the Alaska Bar Association for competence, integrity, fairness, judicial temperament and suitability as a judge.
Pate was born in Nuremberg, Germany, to a U.S. Army family, and grew up in Kansas and Europe. His official biography states that he graduated from the University of Kansas with a degree in journalism before earning his law degree from Lewis and Clark Northwestern. He and his wife, Christine, have two sons, Joe and Will.
Pate was in court today and not immediately available for comment on the announcement of his appointment to the Supreme Court.
