Court Opinion

ID: 9562871
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 18:34:35.706439+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:17:34.605123
License: Public Domain

BURKE, Justice,
concurring.
I concur in the determination that Alaska’s “local hire” law1 violates the Privileges and Immunities Clause of the Constitution of the United States,2 for the reasons stated in the opinion of the court, authored by Justice Matthews. In my judgment, however, we should decide this case on an independent ground. Thus, as Francis urges us to do in one of his alternative arguments, I would hold the local hire law invalid upon the ground that it violates the clear and unambiguous language of article I, section 1 of the Alaska Constitution.3
When called upon to determine the constitutionality of an Alaska statute under both the state and federal constitutions, it is my belief that this court should consider first the requirements of the Alaska Constitution. Schafer v. Vest, 680 P.2d 1169, 1172 (Alaska 1984) (Burke, C.J., concurring). Although this approach has been criticized by some, it is the one favored by a number of respected judges and legal commentators, whose reasons appear far more persuasive to me than do those of the persons in the opposite camp. See R.F. Utter, Freedom and Diversity in the Federal System: Perspectives on State Constitutions and the Washington Declaration of Rights, 7 U.Puget Sound L.Rev. 491 (1984). In any event, it is the approach that I would employ in the case at bar, for the following reasons.
A decision by this court that the local hire law violates the Alaska Constitution would bring this case to an immediate end, since it has long been held that it is beyond the power of the United States Supreme Court to review a state court’s interpretation of its state constitution, “as long as the state ground is independent of any federal ground and is adequate to support the judgment.” Id. at 505, citing Michigan v. Long, 463 U.S. 1032, 103 S.Ct. 3469, 77 L.Ed.2d 1201 (1983) and Fox Film Corp. v. Miller, 296 U.S. 207, 56 S.Ct. 183, 80 L.Ed. 158 (1935). The majority opinion, however, leaves the final result still uncertain.
Given the understandable popularity of local hire measures in Alaska, it is a foregone conclusion that state officials will be under considerable pressure to seek review of our determination of the federal question by the final arbiter of such disputes, the United States Supreme Court. Should the advocates of local hire prevail in that forum, it will still be necessary for this court to decide whether the present statute violates the Alaska Constitution. Thus, the ultimate outcome could remain unsettled until there is a second decision by this court. Rather than expose the parties and the people of this state to such uncertainty, and the added cost of future litigation, I *272think we should decide this critical issue of state law here and now.
Another reason for us to examine the requirements of the Alaska Constitution is the almost certain fact that the state legislature will be asked to enact new local hire legislation, after the announcement of our decision. The main difficulty that the legislature faces, as I see it, is the clear and unambiguous statement contained in our state constitution, “that all persons are equal and entitled to equal rights [and] opportunities.” Alaska Const, art. I, § 1 (emphasis added). The fact that it may be possible to draft a statute that would satisfy the requirement of the United States Constitution does not mean that the same statute will pass muster under this or some other provision of the Alaska Constitution. It is important, I think, to make this clear to the people of this state and their elected representatives.

 . AS 36.10.

. U.S. Const, art. IV, § 2.

. Article I, section 1 of the Alaska Constitution provides, in part, "that all persons are equal and entitled to equal rights, opportunities, and protection under the law.”