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

Summary

The court held that the Commission's statutory duty to keep investigations confidential necessarily authorized it to exclude third parties from investigative interviews, even though that authority was exercised through a longstanding unwritten policy. It also held that Anderson did not comply with a subpoena merely by appearing and offering to testify only if her support person could attend, and that the superior court abused its discretion by dismissing the contempt proceeding. Justice Carney, dissenting, would have affirmed because neither the statutes nor the subpoena authorized excluding Anderson's support person.