Warren W. Matthews, Jr. (born April 5, 1939) is an American lawyer and jurist who was a justice of the

Alaska Supreme Court The Alaska Supreme Court is the state supreme court for the U.S. state of Alaska. Its decisions are binding on all other Alaska state courts, and the only court its decisions may be appealed to is the Supreme Court of the United States. The Alas ...

from 1977 to 2009. Matthews served as the 8th and 12th chief justice of the Alaska Supreme Court. His service from May 1977 to April 2009 makes him the second-longest serving justice in

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

history, slightly less than that of Jay Rabinowitz. Born in

Santa Cruz, California Santa Cruz (Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 62,956. Situated on the northern edge of Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz is a pop ...

, Matthews graduated from San Benito High School in

Hollister, California Hollister is a city in and the county seat of San Benito County, located in the Central Coast region of California. With a 2020 United States census population of 41,678, Hollister is one of the largest cities in the Monterey Bay Area and a ...

in 1957, where he says he was inspired to become an attorney when one paid a visit to his classroom. He went on to earn his bachelor of arts degree from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

in 1961 and his juris doctor degree from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

in 1964. Matthews came to Alaska in 1965 to serve as an associate at the

law firm A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients (individuals or corporations) about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to r ...

of Burr, Boney & Pease in

Anchorage Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...

. In 1969, he formed the law firm of Matthews, Dunn and Bailey. He served as ethics committee chair for the Alaska Bar Association from 1968 to 1974. Then, in 1977,

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Jay Hammond Jay Sterner Hammond (July 21, 1922 – August 2, 2005) was an American politician of the Republican Party, who served as the fourth governor of Alaska from 1974 to 1982. Hammond was born in Troy, New York and served as a Marine Corps fighter pilo ...

appointed Matthews as an associate justice of the

. The other Supreme Court justices elected Matthews to be the 8th chief justice from 1987 to 1990 and as the 12th chief justice from 1997 to 2000. As chief justice, he also served concurrently as chairman of the Alaska Judicial Council. The nation's other chief justices elected Matthews as second vice president of the

Conference of Chief Justices The Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ) was created in 1949 after the need for an organization composed of the states' and territories' top jurists was amply discussed at the American Bar Association and other juridical organizations. The first mee ...

Noted opinions

Matthews wrote the 4–1

majority opinion In law, a majority opinion is a judicial opinion agreed to by more than half of the members of a court. A majority opinion sets forth the decision of the court and an explanation of the rationale behind the court's decision. Not all cases have ...

in the 1981 Supreme Court case of ''Nix v. Alaska'', in which he ruled that an

undercover To go "undercover" (that is, to go on an undercover operation) is to avoid detection by the object of one's observation, and especially to disguise one's own identity (or use an assumed identity) for the purposes of gaining the trust of an indi ...

police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

gaining access to a residence was not a violation of the Fourth Amendment prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures, stating, "the use of

police agents 'is a highly necessary tool in fighting crime.'" In 2007, Matthews dissented in the 3–2 Supreme Court decision of ''Alaska v.

Planned Parenthood The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive health care in the United States and globally. It is a tax-exempt corporation under Internal Reve ...

'' in which the Court struck down Alaska's law requiring parental consent for minors to obtain abortions while Matthews supported the law, arguing: "Without a parent's consent, inorsmay not become licensed drivers or get married or obtain general medical or dental treatment." Later that year, Matthews wrote the

dissenting opinion A dissenting opinion (or dissent) is an opinion in a legal case in certain legal systems written by one or more judges expressing disagreement with the majority opinion of the court which gives rise to its judgment. Dissenting opinions are no ...

in the 3–2 Supreme Court decision ''Godfrey, d/b/a

Mendenhall Valley The Mendenhall Valley (historically Mendenhall, colloquially The Valley) is the drainage area of the Mendenhall River in the U.S. state of Alaska. The valley contains a series of neighborhoods, comprising the largest populated place within the ...

Tesoro v. State of Alaska, Community and Economic Development'', in which the court supported Alaska's law holding retailers legally liable if their employees (even unknowingly) sold tobacco to minors. Matthews opposed the law, arguing that the law was too broad in not allowing a retailer to argue that a clerk was not negligent.

Legacy

Several of his former

law clerk A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person, generally someone who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial clerks often play significant ...

s eventually went on to prominence in Alaskan politics: Supreme Court Justice Craig F. Stowers,

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

Daniel S. Sullivan, and

State Representative A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United Sta ...

Lindsey Holmes. Since retiring from the Supreme Court in 2009, Matthews has served as a

pro tem ''Pro tempore'' (), abbreviated ''pro tem'' or ''p.t.'', is a Latin phrase which best translates to "for the time being" in English. This phrase is often used to describe a person who acts as a ''locum tenens'' (placeholder) in the absence of ...

judge.

Personal life

Warren Matthews has been married to Donna since 1963. They have two daughters: Holly (born ca. 1974), a psychiatric social worker; and Meredith (born ca. 1978), an attorney in private practice.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, Warren W. 1939 births Living people Stanford University alumni Harvard Law School alumni Justices of the Alaska Supreme Court People from Santa Cruz, California People from Hollister, California Politicians from Anchorage, Alaska Lawyers from Anchorage, Alaska Chief Justices of the Alaska Supreme Court