Supreme Court Justice hopeful recuses himself from two cases seeking the release of Governor Palin e-mails.

An Anchorage judge who has applied for a seat on the state Supreme Court this week took himself off two public records cases pending against Gov. Sarah Palin. Both cases were brought by Anchorage activist Andree McLeod.

Superior Court Judge Craig Stowers wrote in a court order filed Tuesday that he thought he could be fair to both sides but stepped down because he realized his decisions could be questioned given his application to the Supreme Court.

"Both cases involve substantial issues of law and policy," Stowers wrote. "The parties and the public are entitled to have these important issues resolved in a context where there can be no question, not even a shadow of doubt, that the Court is acting in a neutral and fair manner."

The first thing that jumps out at me in this article is the fact that Judge Stowers says that these cases "involve substantial issues of law and policy", and it is very gratifying to have a judge recognize the importance of Andree's case.

But the other thing is that he feels he cannot oversee these cases without imperiling his chances of becoming a Supreme Court Justice in Alaska.

Is this an admission that daring to listen to this case would mean that the vindictive Sarah Palin would dismiss him out of turn? Or is he simply saying that if he were to rule against Andree McLoed, that it would be suspect because everybody would assume that he was in her pocket?

Well either way it is a very public affirmation of what many of us already know. That Sarah Palin still wields enormous power in this state and that anybody who wants to get ahead has to acknowledge that fact and either ingratiate themselves to her, or look for support from other sources in opposition to her. And by the way that would be us.

And this actually fits in with a quote I heard from one of my sources just the other day, which was the following: "She is the most dangerous person I have ever dealt with."

Now I can't reveal this source, but if I could that statement would be even more chilling.

I believe it is very smart for Judge Stowers to recuse himself from these cases, but it is very troubling indeed that he felt he had to. If he had listened to this case and made his decision based solely on its merits, how could anybody have found fault with that? I mean anybody but Governor Sarah Palin of course.

No Judge Stowers is not recusing himself because he is afraid that he may rule against McLeod and bring criticism from those of us on the left (And if he was, wouldn't it seem that Kevin Clarkson, who represented five state lawmakers who unsuccessfully sued to stop the Legislature's "Troopergate" investigation of Palin last fall when she was the Republican nominee for vice president, would feel the need to do the same?). He is doing so solely because he recognizes that Sarah Palin would NEVER allow him to become Supreme Court Justice if he dared to rule against her, or possibly even if he dared to hear the case at all.

That is the tyranny that the good people of Alaska are currently living with and that is what we need to constantly speak out against.