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I point out further that eight states have
both an age requirement and a minimum
number of years of legal practice; hence
Maryland would not be alone in such a
recommendation or such a provision in
their constitution.
May I also suggest that individuals in
other professions do not reach the execu-
tive level until they pass the age of thirty,
and I believe that a judgeship is the pin-
nacle, the executive level, if you will, of the
legal profession. Finally, I submit that law
schools do not train or educate judges. They
train lawyers. I suggest that the age of
thirty does not hamper the ambitions of
young attorneys. It is not an illogical or
harsh requirement. It is in the best in-
terests of the citizens of the State.
I ask you to support this amendment.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Mudd.
DELEGATE MUDD: Mr. Chairman and
ladies and gentlemen of the Convention :
I rise in opposition to this proposed
amendment. Our Committee was mindful
of the fact that the present constitution
fixes age thirty as the minimum age for
those eligible for appointment to the bench.
As Delegate Siewierski originally indicated,
there are only twenty-four states now in-
cluding in their constitutional resuirements
of eligibility an age limit. The average age
limit imposed by those twenty-four states is
something less than thirty. On the other
hand, twenty-six states do not include in
their constitutions any limitation on age
for eligibility of appointment to the bench.
We felt very definitely that the trend is
in favor of the youth of the day, to wit
the recommendation that the voting age
be reduced; and our ambition in this Ma-
jority Report was to make this constitution
useful and helpful to the people of Mary-
land, and therefore to eliminate this re-
striction in order not to deprive, in ex-
treme cases, the State of Maryland from
a useful judge.
We, therefore, oppose the amendment. I
will yield the balance of my time to Dele-
gate Schneider, if it is in order.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Johnson,
you have two minutes more that you could
yield to someone, if you desire.
DELEGATE JOHNSON: The current
Constitution of Maryland requires that an
individual attorney must be thirty years of
age before he can obtain the high position
of judge.
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The Constitutional Convention Commis-
sion eliminated the age 30 requirement. We
do not know why. Frankly, in all prob-
ability, the five-year requirement will take
care of most situations, and for this we
have agreed. However, as a further and
perhaps unimportant tie with tradition,
we sincerely urge that there be a thirty-
year requirement, if you agree with us
that an individual who accepts the very
high position and very difficult position of
judge should be at least thirty years of
age.
THE CHAIRMAN: The Chair recog-
nizes Delegate Schneider to speak for three
and a half minutes in opposition.
DELEGATE SCHNEIDER: Mr. Chair-
man, ladies and gentlemen: first, let me
say that by the time I fill the requirement
which we suggest, the five-year require-
ment in the bar, I will be over thirty, so
I am not looking to save a judgeship right
now.
The Committee has recommended five
years' membership in the bar. We thought
this was more realistic than 30 years of
age. You could have a man who could pass
the bar exam at age twenty-nine and ful-
fill the requirements of the old Constitu-
tion of being thirty years of age with only
one year membership in the bar. The Com-
mittee feels that since we hope at least
that the Niles plan will be enacted and that
we will have nominating commissions; or
if the Niles plan is not enacted we will
have a governor choosing our judges for
appointment, that it should be left to the
discretion of the governor or to the nomi-
nating commission to pick the man who is
best qualified. If in one in a thousand cir-
cumstances, or more often, that man hap-
pens to be twenty-eight years of age, or
twenty-nine, or twenty-five, they should be
allowed to pick him and not be limited to
waiting for a man to reach the age thirty.
We have heard that twenty-four states
have a minimum age and that it averages
twenty-six years of age. This must mean
that very few of them have a thirty-year
age limit, or if very many of them have
a thirty-year age limit, it means that there
must be an equal number with an age limit
of somewhere around twenty or twenty-
two. The Committee feels that we should
leave this more flexible, especially in
Garrett County, where we hear they have
six lawyers. I have no idea what the ages
age, but they might have a situation where
they have a district judgeship coming open,
and the man who is best qualified might be
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