Maryland committee advances rule to shield judges’ personal info

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ANNAPOLIS—The Maryland Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure Thursday approved a new rule intended to bolster protections for judges seeking to shield their personal information from the public.

The new rule, 16-942, extends the protections of the Judge Andrew F. Wilkinson Judicial Security Act — a 2024 law passed following the fatal shooting of Wilkinson outside his home in October 2023 — to publicly available court records.

The addition must first be approved by the Maryland Supreme Court before taking effect.

Though the Judge Wilkinson Act allows a judge or magistrate to request a person or government body not publish their personal information or seek to have their personal information removed from an existing publication — and covers current and retired state and federal judges, magistrates, District Court commissioners, and their spouses, children or any other dependents who live with them in Maryland — the bill does not cover judges’ personal information available in the state case search system or at courthouse kiosks.

To address this loophole, the Administrative Office of the Courts, which was created by the 2024 bill, asked the Rules Committee to form a new rule that would allow those covered by the bill to request shielding from public-facing judiciary systems.

“[Rule 16-942] would allow judges who are parties to lawsuits, or otherwise in a position where their personal information might be getting filed in a lawsuit, to request that that information be shielded,” said Judge Douglas R. M. Nazarian, Maryland Appellate Court judge and vice chair of the Rules Committee, during Thursday’s meeting.

The rule passed without amendment or public comment.

Under the new rule, a judge cannot rule on the judge’s own request or a request pertaining to a family member of the judge.

Nick Cavey, spokesperson for the Maryland Judiciary, said the judiciary “holds the safety and security of Maryland judges, staff, and visitors to our courthouses as a top priority.”

“Security protocols are followed and continually reevaluated for best practices within the Maryland Judiciary,” Cavey said in an email Thursday. “The Rules Committee’s proposed addition of a new rule, 16-942 would continue to strengthen the Judiciary’s safety protocols and processes while ensuring transparency.”

Cavey did not respond as to whether Maryland judges have encountered issues in requesting to shield their personal information from public court records.

Lawmakers introduced the Judge Wilkinson Act at the request of the Maryland Judicial Conference following Wilkinson’s murder by a man whose divorce and custody case had been before the judge earlier on the day of his killing.

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office called the shooting a “targeted attack” and accused Pedro Argote, who lost custody of his four children at a court hearing where Wilkinson also heard testimony about Argote’s controlling and abusive behavior.

Police located Argote’s body in a wooded area near Maryland’s border with West Virginia a week after the shooting.

Congress also passed legislation allowing federal judges to remove personal information from government internet sites in 2022, two years after a district court judge’s 20-year-old son was murdered in New Jersey.