JUDICIAL AND LEGAL ETHICS IN MARYLAND: HOW LOW CAN YOU GO?

Who is worthy of greater public condemnation, a lawyer who exchanges sex for a controlled substance or a lawyer who complains, truthfully, about the misconduct of a federal judge? 


Well, what you think doesn't matter. What matters is what the judges think. 


In Maryland, the judiciary, by a large margin, prefers the sexual predator with a law license to the honest lawyer, who files a formal complaint about a judge.


The sexual predator get a little frown from the judges, while the honest lawyer, who complains about the misconduct of a federal judge, gets to pick another profession. 


Arguably (as lawyers like to say) a Maryland attorney ought never to lose his/her law license, for making a truthful complaint about a federal judge. 


Arguably. But honesty is not the big deal you might expect it to be to the Maryland judiciary.


An attorney who does complain - about a federal judge who (1) ignores procedural rules to benefit his former law partners (2) takes money gifts from litigators (3) violates the federal judicial complaint rules and the Canons of Judicial Ethics and (4) is in business with lawyers in his court - a lawyer who objects to all this ought to be protected - if not congratulated - for coming forward. Arguably, but never mind. 


The Judicial apparatus in Maryland did not like the fact that I complained - truthfully - about the misconduct of a federal judge. My punishment  - 18 months suspended law license.


In fact, my suspension amounts to a disbarment. I am not going to apologize to Chief Judge Bell for coming forward as I did. I am not going to promise, from now on, to look the other way.


Judge Bell ought to apologize to me and restore my license - after admitting that I was telling the truth about the federal judge. But that is not the way our judicial system works.  


Strict adherence to the factual record takes a back seat, in Maryland, to another judicial value: protection of a miscreant judicial colleague - a fellow jurist who ignores the ethical strictures that are supposed to protect the interests of petitioners and attorneys, alike.  


The judge about whom I complained ought to have been investigated and replaced. My clients should have been protected from such a "judge." But Judge Bell and his employees among the disciplinary counsel finally have admitted I was telling the truth. But telling the truth is not enough. You loose your license for telling the truth about athe misconduct of a federal judge. 


Never mind. Experience is wisdom. I am now wise to the bright line rule that governs judicial complaints in Maryland: the judges cover for each other. They prefer to destroy the career of an officer of their own court, than admit that a federal judge is a miscreant who ignores his serious ethical obligations.   http://www.courts.state.md.us/attygrievance/sanctions08.html


Never mind and beware. 


Beware the sexual predator who is allowed to hang on to his law license after a little bitty Oh My, from the be-robed solons who run the judiciary in Maryland.


In Maryland the controlling doctrine can be summarized this way: a lawyer who forces himself sexually on someone in exchange for a controlled drug is viewed in a much kinder light than a lawyer who complains - truthfully - about a judge-on-the-take. 


The judicial soft light glows ever softer the second time around; this attorney had been suspended "briefly" (Baltimore Sun May 18, 2010) once before for sexual misconduct with a client.  


The sort of lawyer - two-times a predator - who coerce sex-for-drugs earns a 60 day suspension. Then it's back to 'business' as usual in the Maryland courts. http://mdcourts.gov/opinions/coa/2010/2a09ag.pdf


Disgusting?  But as legal as can be. 


Get sex for drugs or have sexual contact with a client if you can. But if you are an officer of he court, don't complain about a judge. Then, you are really going to be in trouble with the other judges.


In Maryland, judicial ethics and legal ethics are like the game of limbo: how low can you go?  

BOZO GETS A GAVEL

Who is the integrity terminator in Maryland?


It's a competition between Senate President Mike Miller and Chief Judge Robert Bell, with O'Malley and Gansler jostling for third and State Senators placing friendly bets. 


In March 2010, the Maryland Senate voted overwhelmingly to approve the O'Malley recommendation for a judgeship in Anne Arundel County for the son of Senate President Mike Miller. 


Recall that three lawyer members of the judicial appointments commission resigned, objecting to a lack of qualifications in the nominee and also to improper interference with their deliberations over Mike Miller III for a judgeship. When Miller III was not recommended at first, Governor O'Malley simply asked cronies on the commission for more names; Miller III appeared on the burnished new list. Presto! Brand new judge! 


Both before the Senate voted and subsequently, I asked a number of elected officials to look into the possibility of nepotism and other misconduct in this appointment.


Before the vote, I wrote, via their official e-mail, to members of the Maryland Senate. Not a single Senator acknowledged or responded. 


E-mail and Certified mail to Governor Martin O'Malley remains unanswered. 


E-mail to Lt. Governor Anthony G Brown remains unanswered.


Registered mail to Attorney General Douglas Gansler remains unanswered. 

E-mail to the Maryland ACLU remains unacknowledged. 


Public service in Maryland includes not responding to integrity-inquiries. This is necessary because office-holding in Maryland also includes getting your relatives and your political pals' relatives on to the public payroll.

Chief Judge Bell has written back that the appointment of Maryland judges is none of his business. 

Judge Bell did not offer to refer my inquiry to anyone whose business it might be to keep unqualified people off the bench in Maryland or to see that the judicial appointments process was not tainted by undue influence. 

Judge Bill did not indicate how officers of the courts Judge Bell is supposed to supervise are to balance their concerns for the integrity of the appointments process with the reality of appearing in the court of a judge the lawyer had declared was not qualified even to be a judge.


The Maryland judiciary, increasingly, is larded with the relatives of Maryland elected officials. Who cares? Whose job is it to put a stop to this? 


Are elected officials the custodians of judicial integrity in Maryland? 


Nope. The office-holders are the very ones elbowing others aside so their  children, spouses, in-laws, can suck the public teet.   


Is the Maryland State Bar Association the custodian of judicial integrity in Maryland? Forget about it. For the well-connected attorney, there is no better judge to stand before than one who is grateful to the lawyer who engineered the judicial appointment.


Is the Maryland ACLU the custodian of judicial integrity in Maryland? Naw. Why should the ACLU question the integrity of the judicial appointment process? After all, Senate President Miller, known as a vindictive shouter, can de-fund any number of projects and programs, that the ACLU wants to tout. Looking away while Bozo the Clown puts on judicial robes is a small price to pay . . . 


In Maryland, judicial integrity is a pretty low  priority for everyone, including, sadly, Chief Judge Robert Bell. 

The Senate President's son up for a judgeship? Puleeeeesee.

A vote to confirm Mike Miller III as a district judge may be a career-defining vote for each member of the Maryland Senate. 

Are you there to represent the best interests of your district or there merely to help Mike Miller II find a nice job on the public payroll for Mike Miller III? 

Three attorneys on the nominations commission resigned, objecting to this appointee as unqualified and also objecting to pressure on them to approve this appointment. That ought to have been enough to kill this nomination.

A Maryland senator who votes to seat on a district court bench the son of the Senate President is casting a vote for nepotism. This would be a vote for a sinecure not a judgeship.  

Instead of a lemming-like vote in favor, the Senators ought to send this nomination back to the Executive Nominations Committee (Senator Delores Kelly, Chair) where testimony can be elicited as to (1) WHY three members of the commission objected to this appointment (2)  HOW the commission was reconstituted so as to pass this nominee on to the Governor. 

The importance of a hearing is obvious. It is serious and extraordinary for three attorneys, who live and work in the jurisdiction in question, to object to a judicial appointment on the grounds of unqualification and political interference. 

The governor's executive staff need to be examined under oath before the Executive Nominations Committee. Also, the three lawyers (who have placed their practices in some degree of jeopardy already) ought to be at least minimally protected further, by a Senate subpoena. They are:

Eileen Powers - 410-573-2900
Marysabel Rodriguez-Nanney - 410 268-5070

Paula Peters - 410-990-0090

It is integrity-time for each member of the Maryland Senate. The Senate best not simply create a judge out of the son of the Senate President.  

To write this sentence is simply to state the obvious: Mike Miller III is being considered for a judgeship simply because Mike Miller II is a powerful guy. 

Because Thomas V Miller is a powerful guy, the Governor simply reconstituted the commission and got the word out that he wanted Miller III to be recommended to him; the Governor manipulated the appointments procedure merely to get the son's name in front of him.

This is a sham.  This is ugly. This is blatant politicking in favor of putting public money into the pockets of a powerful guy's  family. 

If this nomination is approved, the Senate will have  abdicated its duty to protect the public fisc and the state judiciary against political interference. 

If this nomination is approved, Chief Judge Robert Bell will be asked to conduct his own, independent investigation into a matter, which obviously compromises the integrity and the independence of the Maryland Judiciary.