Harry Arend
Harry Arend (1903-1968) was the fourth justice appointed to serve on the Alaska Supreme Court after it was established in 1959. He served on the court from May 1960-January 1965.
In November 1964, Alaska's voters decided not to retain Arend on the court in a retention election. This appears to have been the fall-out of a pitched battle regarding the process for disciplining of attorneys in the state.
Attorney discipline had been the province of the Alaska State Bar Association. New Chief Justice Buell Nesbett believe that many complaints against lawyers were taking too long to resolve. Nesbett decided that all disciplinary actions against attorneys in the state would be handled by the Alaska Supreme Court.
He made this decision in the face of opposition. Nesbett, in addition to requiring that the Alaska Bar Association give to him its files of complaints about attorneys should also surrender the money being held in an Anchorage bank to fund its administrative operations.
The bar association chose not to convey the request funds, and Nesbitt issued a writ for the seizure of the bank account.
Acrimony resulted and during this period, Justice Arend's name came up for retention on the 1964 ballot. The state bar, angry at the Supreme Court, campaigned against Arend's retention. Meanwhile, Arend resisted campaigning on his own behalf. The end result is that Arend lost his retention election.
