Alaska State Commission for Human Rights, Marti Buscaglia, Executive Director, Appellant v. Dori Lynn Anderson…

Summary

The Alaska Supreme Court held that the Commission’s statutory duty to keep its investigations confidential necessarily authorizes it to exclude third parties from investigative interviews. The Commission’s longstanding policy was a commonsense interpretation of that duty and did not require formal rulemaking, and Anderson’s subpoena required her to provide testimony rather than merely appear. The court therefore reversed dismissal of the contempt proceeding and remanded for further proceedings. Justice Carney, dissenting, would have affirmed because neither statute nor regulation authorized excluding a support person and Anderson appeared willing to testify.