WASHINGTON — President Trump’s pick to be a federal judge in Alaska encountered no turbulence at his nomination hearing Wednesday in the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.
Aaron C. Peterson is from Eagle River and is an assistant attorney general in the Alaska Department of Law’s natural resources section. He told the senators that an asset he’d bring to the U.S. District Court bench is extensive knowledge of Alaska-specific federal laws, including the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.
“The deep familiarity that I have with those laws, with my history of litigating them, I think prepared me for many of the cases that will come before the District Court," he said.
While he now works exclusively on civil cases now, he also worked as a municipal and state prosecutor for about eight years, which took him around the state.
Peterson got a law degree from Gonzaga University in 2010, is married to a math teacher and is a father of three. He said in documents submitted to the committee that he became a member of the conservative Federalist Society this year.
“He knows and understands our great state and the federal laws that reflect on Alaska," Alaska U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan said as he introduced Peterson at the hearing. "I think he will be a great federal judge.”
Sullivan mentioned the last nominee he supported for the federal bench in Alaska. Joshua Kindred ("not my first choice" Sullivan added) was sworn in in 2020 but resigned in disgrace in 2024, after an investigation found he mistreated a law clerk, among other improprieties.
Sullivan said Peterson is the first nominee to be interviewed by the Alaska Federal Judiciary Council, an advisory committee the senator created that meets in private and vets potential nominees for him.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski favors the prior system for vetting federal judicial applicants. It starts with a poll of the Alaska Bar Association, to gauge the person’s reputation among fellow attorneys.
Peterson went through Sullivan's vetting system but thanked both Alaska senators for their support.
He was among three nominees at Wednesday's confirmation hearing. The others have higher-profile positions as U.S. attorneys in Arkansas and Texas and drew more scrutiny. Senators repeatedly asked Peterson to weigh in on constitutional questions only after the others had answered, leaving him little to say.
“Senator, again, I agree with my colleagues. I was only going to add separation of powers concerns, but Mr. Ganjei did that," he said, referring to his fellow nominee at the hearing table.
The committee could vote on Peterson’s nomination next month and then send it to the full Senate for a vote.
