Generation J.D.

Judges should be accountable for the law. They should not be accountable to the Court of Public Opinion and should not be swayed into making a decision because it would result in a favorable outcome to their constituents.

Under the same theory, judges should not have to spend days and weeks and months to campaign for an election, after they have already spent days and weeks and months being vetted by the judicial nominating committee, various local and specialty bar associations, and the governor of Maryland.

Unfortunately, in Maryland, all circuit court judges must be elected to the bench, which takes away from the job at hand: adjudicating cases.

Judges should be islands among themselves – independent entities applying applicable law to applicable facts with the end result being a favorable decision for one party and an unfavorable one against another.

The law is not always right or just or fair, but it is the law and should be applied that way. As lawyers, we ask the bench to be the neutral arbitrator of the law and facts. When we receive an adverse ruling, which we believe was given without a basis in law or in fact, we are the first to complain that the judge making the ruling is using the bench as a vehicle for legislative reform. Then why do we ask these same judges to run for election?

Why must they raise funds through donations to ensure they are elected for a position that they have already been serving on for months? It does not pass the “smell test” and when things don’t pass the “smell test” it means we are in a murky area. (As a side note – the “smell test” works well when you are debating whether something is ethical, whether something will hold up in court, and whether something should or should not be consumed).

Senate Bill 833 and House Bill 1385, which will be before the Maryland General Assembly, with hearings this week, seek to end the requirement for judicial elections in Maryland. This is long overdue.

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