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I say to you that attempt to influence hai
happened at the superior court level. Man:
judges from the municipal courts and peo
pie's court in this state told our Committe<
that it was a commonplace occurrence a
the district court level.
We all know this to be true. A humbli
citizen who gets into trouble for a pettj
crime or traffic violation is told if he pay:
lawyer "X" who knows politician "Y" wh<
has the ear of judge "Z" all will be well o:
the ticket will be fixed. If if he pays bails
man "A", judge "B" will release hin
temporarily from jail and enable him to gc
back to work and feed his family.
If people are to have respect for law, ii
it not time we cleaned up this sorry mess
have we not found the worst abuse amon^
the poor and the helpless?
With all the earnestness at my commanc
I suggest you vote down the bifurcated
monster set out in the Minority Report. Ii
this a unified judicial system? If we can-
not carry this point, I would suggest as fai
as judicial reform is concerned, we bettei
pack up and go home.
(Applause).
THE CHAIRMAN: For what purpose
does Delegate Malkus rise?
DELEGATE MALKUS: To ask if the
delegate will yield to a question.
THE CHAIRMAN: Will you?
DELEGATE HENDERSON: Yes.
DELEGATE MALKUS: Is it or is ii
not true that you were a part of the evi
mess of which you speak?
DELEGATE HENDERSON: I sat oi
the Court of Appeals for 20 years and oi
the supreme bench for nearly two. If tha
constitutes a part of it, then, yes, I was.
THE CHAIRMAN: For what purpose
does Delegate Johnson rise?
DELEGATE JOHNSON: Mr. Chairman
as I indicated at the outset, the minority
neither sought nor requested speakers oi
this particular amendment, however, I an
happy to say that a few delegates havi
sent me notes and indicated that the:
would like to be heard under the controlle<
time and so if it is in order, I would lik<
to honor their requests. I yield up to fiv<
minutes to Delegate Dorsey.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Dorsey i
recognized for five minutes.
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s DELEGATE DORSEY: Mr. President
Y and ladies and gentlemen of the Conven-
tion : The Missouri plan which was in-
2 augurated about twenty-seven years ago in
t Missouri was born of the corruption that
existed in Kansas City under the Prender-
gast machine and from the Democratic
B landslide which swept all the Republican
7 judges in St. Louis out of office when
3 Roosevelt was running. That brought about
D reform in Missouri. The Missouri plan, on
r which the Niles Plan was founded has
never been extended in that State beyond
1 the Supreme Court of Missouri and the
5 circuit courts of Kansas City and St. Louis.
Now, when my good friend Judge Niles
* originally proposed this plan, it would
j, have gone no further than this in Mary-
' land. It would have applied only to the
appellate court, and would be optional with
1 the other political subdivisions of the State
[ whether they desired to have it or not. I
3 might say that there is no man in this State
for whom I hold a warmer personal regard
than for Emery Niles and there is no judge
: in this State that I respect more than
Judge Niles who for a quarter of a century
graced the supreme bench of Baltimore
City. It is because of the high regard I
a hold for him and his illustrious father who
lectured at the University of Maryland
when I was a law student that I am un-
» willing to see the system which we have in
Maryland which produced Judge Niles and
his father scrapped because some judge
such as Judge Henderson says it is born
in corruption.
The Niles Plan was introduced in the
k Maryland legislature and rejected by the
1 duly elected representatives of the people
in Maryland in their General Assembly. It
was consigned by the General Assembly or
referred by the last General Assembly to
, the Constitutional Convention. I am told
by my good friend Senator Malkus that
when they consigned it to the Constitu-
* tional Convention Commission they thought
that they were consigning it to the ceme-
tery, but that these political scientists who
i, have been so much around this Convention
7 performed a remarkable operation along
i with some Harvard Law School graduates
i and revived the Niles plan and brought it
e back even in a more noxious form than it
^ was when it was presented to the General
i Assembly.
e
e THE CHAIRMAN: You have one min-
ute, Delegate Dorsey.
s DELEGATE DORSEY: I might say that
when the distinguished Chairman of the
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