1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,880 Let me begin by congratulating you. Thank you. You have 2 00:00:02,880 --> 00:00:06,560 a very impressive background. I look forward to our discussion. 3 00:00:06,560 --> 00:00:10,240 You're probably not going to be surprised. It's going to be very Alaska 4 00:00:10,240 --> 00:00:13,360 specific. We have a lot of unique Alaska issues that a lot 5 00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:18,480 of judges sometimes miss. I'm looking forward to talking 6 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:21,760 about that. 7 00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:24,560 Congrats again. You have a very impressive background for a 8 00:00:24,560 --> 00:00:27,520 whole host of reasons. Hello, Alaska. I just came out of a 9 00:00:27,520 --> 00:00:31,200 meeting with Judge Amy Coney Barrett, President Trump's 10 00:00:31,200 --> 00:00:35,020 nominee to be on the U.S. Supreme Court. It was a really 11 00:00:35,020 --> 00:00:39,100 productive meeting, almost 45 minutes with her. We covered a 12 00:00:39,100 --> 00:00:45,580 bunch of topics. She's clearly a thoughtful and 13 00:00:45,580 --> 00:00:50,140 intelligent jurist with many credentials to her name. 14 00:00:50,140 --> 00:00:53,020 Some of the topics we covered right at the outset: the 15 00:00:53,020 --> 00:00:56,540 role of a judge on the federal judiciary, something I believe, 16 00:00:56,540 --> 00:01:00,300 and she agreed with me, it's the judge's job to interpret 17 00:01:00,300 --> 00:01:04,520 the law, not to legislate. From the bench, I think she was in 18 00:01:04,520 --> 00:01:09,080 full agreement on that. A lot of our discussion focused on 19 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:12,760 Alaska specific issues. I talked about how unique our 20 00:01:12,760 --> 00:01:17,400 state was, but also how there are many unique, complicated 21 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:22,360 laws, such as the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and ANILCA 22 00:01:22,360 --> 00:01:27,640 the Trans Alaska Pipeline Act, even the Tax Act of 2017, 23 00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:31,400 which has a whole section on the opening of ANWR. We went 24 00:01:31,400 --> 00:01:36,820 into depth about how federal courts often misinterpret these 25 00:01:36,820 --> 00:01:40,260 very important laws for our state, which could do huge 26 00:01:40,260 --> 00:01:44,420 damage to Alaska. So I told her to keep an eye on these kinds of 27 00:01:44,420 --> 00:01:47,140 cases and then we went into depth on the 28 00:01:47,140 --> 00:01:51,460 Sturgeon versus Frost case as an example of lower courts, in 29 00:01:51,460 --> 00:01:54,660 this case, the Ninth Circuit really misinterpreting federal 30 00:01:54,660 --> 00:01:57,620 law. Fortunately, the Supreme Court in two different 31 00:01:57,620 --> 00:02:03,060 opinions finally got ANILCA and Alaska right in the 32 00:02:03,060 --> 00:02:06,400 Sturgeon case. I respectfully gave her this case and asked 33 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:10,560 her to read it. We talked a lot about the Second Amendment. She 34 00:02:10,560 --> 00:02:16,320 is a strong defender of the Second Amendment. There was a 35 00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:21,760 Seventh Circuit case in which she wrote a dissent that to me 36 00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:26,080 is one of the most powerful dissents that I've read on 37 00:02:26,080 --> 00:02:30,400 the Second Amendment and the importance of it. I would 38 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:32,880 mention to Alaskans if they're interested in it and we 39 00:02:32,880 --> 00:02:36,300 can make sure you know what case that is to take a look at 40 00:02:36,300 --> 00:02:40,460 it to read it. We had a deep discussion also on the issue 41 00:02:40,460 --> 00:02:46,700 of the power and limitations of federal agencies, administrative 42 00:02:46,700 --> 00:02:49,740 agencies. She had written an opinion on limiting the power 43 00:02:49,740 --> 00:02:53,500 of the Waters of the United States (Rule) that I thought was very 44 00:02:53,500 --> 00:02:56,780 important and we had a long discussion on that as well. 45 00:02:56,780 --> 00:02:59,660 We covered a bunch of other topics as well, but I would say I'm 46 00:02:59,660 --> 00:03:03,740 certainly looking forward to seeing more of her views as the 47 00:03:03,740 --> 00:03:08,220 Judiciary Committee hearings kick into gear, but 48 00:03:08,220 --> 00:03:11,580 overall, it was an important meeting today and I think she 49 00:03:11,580 --> 00:03:17,500 came away with a sense of just how important and unique 50 00:03:17,500 --> 00:03:20,300 many of the federal laws that come before the U.S. Supreme 51 00:03:20,300 --> 00:03:25,980 Court that relate to Alaska and that was my goal today.