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Proceedings and Debates of the 1967 Constitutional Convention
Volume 104, Volume 1, Debates 1017   View pdf image (33K)
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[Nov. 20] DEBATES 1017

mittee to vote against this amendment be-
cause I am sure that the residents of Bal-
timore City would not be appointed to
judgeships in Baltimore County, whereas
the residents of Baltimore County would
get the judgeships in Baltimore City.

THE CHAIRMAN: Does any delegate
desire to speak in favor of the amendment?

(There was no response.)
Against the amendment?
(There was no response.)
Are you ready for the question?
(Call for the question.)

The question arises on the adoption of
Amendment No. 21. A vote Aye is in favor
of the amendment. A vote No is a vote
against.

Cast your vote.
Have all delegates voted?
(There was no response.)

Does any delegate desire to change his
vote?

(There was no response.)
The Clerk will record the vote.

There being 18 votes in the affirmative
and 114 in the negative, the amendment is
rejected.

Are there any further amendments to
section 5.13? The Chair hears none. Are
there any amendments to section 5.14?
There is a minority amendment.

For what purpose does Delegate Storm
rise?

DELEGATE STORM: Mr. Chairman, I
had an amendment for 5.13.

THE CHAIRMAN: Page distribute
Amendment CD, please. Please number this
Amendment No. 22. The Clerk will read
the amendment.

READING CLERK: Amendment No. 22
to Committee Recommendation JB-1 by
Delegate Storm: On page 4 section 5.13 Eli-
gibility for Appointment as Judge in each
instance after the word "resident" add the
words "and registered voter"; and in line
32 strike out the word "district" and insert
in lieu thereof the word "county."

THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Storm, the
Chair is not clear as to the meaning of the
second part of the amendment.

As I understand it, under your amend-
ment, the last sentence beginning in line
30 would read "To be eligible for nomina-
tion and appointment as a judge in district
court, a person shall be a resident and
registered voter of the county where the
district court vacancy exists," is that
correct, sir?

DELEGATE STORM: Yes, sir. That
was to make this section in accordance with
the one adopted the other day.

THE CHAIRMAN: I beg your pardon, I
had overlooked that amendment. In other
words, there will be a district court in each
county.

DELEGATE STORM: Yes, sir.

THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you. The
amendment having been seconded the Chair
recognizes Delegate Storm to speak to the
amendment.

DELEGATE STORM: Mr. Chairman,
and fellow delegates: this leaves section
5.13 exactly as it was proposed by the ma-
jority of the Committee except that we
require a little longer residence than per-
haps was contemplated in the Majority
Report because in order to be a registered
voter he would have had to have lived
there long enough to register. This would
prevent someone moving in to a county in
order to accept an appointment.

This seems to be not unreasonable. It
seems also to fit in with the theory as ex-
pressed by the Chairman of the majority
when he said that they chose "resident"
because under ordinary circumstances, a
resident would have the flavor and would
understand the district. We are simply sug-
gesting that he be not only a resident but
a resident long enough and interested
enough to be a registered voter.

We submit that this is not unreasonable
to require of anyone who wants to be a
judge in a county or a district as in the
two lower courts. This does not apply of
course to appellate courts; it applies to the
superior court and the district court. We
think he should be a resident long enough
to understand the kind of community in
which he will serve.

THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Mudd.

DELEGATE MUDD: Mr. Chairman, I
rise in opposition to the amendment. This
matter was discussed in Committee and
after careful consideration it was the view
of the majority that eligibility to be de-
termined by citizenship, residence, and
membership in the bar were sufficient.

 

 

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Proceedings and Debates of the 1967 Constitutional Convention
Volume 104, Volume 1, Debates 1017   View pdf image (33K)
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