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selecting judges. It is a plan designed to
place in the governor, and solely in the
governor, the matter of choosing judges
from a group of lawyers who number more
than 5,000 in the State of Maryland, with-
out the help of any commission, and with-
out the assistance of any bar association.
I respectfully suggest to the proponent
of this amendment that if the method the
governor is going to use to pick the right
man for the right job is to call up a friend
who knows him, then it is entirely possible
that before exercising his choice, and in-
telligently as he would like to, he might
have to call up five thousand people, be-
cause there are over five thousand lawyers
in the State of Maryland.
Therefore, it is perfectly obvious to me
that this amendment should be defeated
and defeated resoundingly.
THE CHAIRMAN: Does any other dele-
gate desire to speak in favor of the amend-
ment? Delegate Johnson?
DELEGATE JOHNSON: Mr. Chair-
man, I rise to speak in favor of the amend-
ment because I think that Delegate Mal-
kus' amendment, although I doubt very
much that it will be adopted by this Con-
vention, is far better than the evil and
havoc that we are going to place upon the
citizens of this great State of Maryland.
The members of the minority of the
Committee on the Judicial Branch, although
willing to go along with the majority, with
respect to the nominating commission on
the appellate court level, do so with very
serious misgivings.
In our opinion, Mr. Chairman and ladies
and gentlemen, this policy of nominating
commissions just will not work, in our very
humble opinion, and I submit to you that
our opinion is at least as good as the opin-
ion of the majority members of our Com-
mittee, who urge adoption because they
believe it will work.
We do not think that it will, and we are
appalled at the idea of locking what we
consider to be an unproven, unworkable
plan into our constitution requiring a con-
stitutional amendment to take it away.
We are deeply concerned about what is
going to happen in the smaller counties
around the State, when there are just
enough lawyers to serve on the nominating
commissions and still be eligible for judge.
We are deeply concerned with the pos-
sible establishing of the nominating com-
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missions, either for or against minority
groups.
I submit to you, ladies and gentlemen,
that it is going to be next to impossible for
any member serving on a nominating com-
mission to be objective concerning the se-
lection of judges. Suppose he is a labor
man, suppose he is a management man.
Suppose he is a member of a minority
group, do you think that it is likely that
he or she is going to be objective concern-
ing selection of judges?
I submit that this is the word kind of
politics. I submit that this is the worst
possible scheme or plan whereby we will
select judges.
Consider the fact that if we do away
with this plan, we will retain the power in
the governor, who is solely responsible for
the appointment of judges.
THE CHAIRMAN: You have one-half
minute, Delegate Johnson.
DELEGATE JOHNSON: Thank you,
Mr. Chairman.
I submit that the governor will look for
the best man available, regardless of race
or creed, and will pick the top man for the
job. He will have all sorts of avenues open
to him. If you limit him to the selection of
the nominating commission, he is going to
be limited to that selection, regardless of
whether or not the nominee is the best
man for the job or not.
In sincerely believe that this is a serious
mistake we are making and for that reason
I am going to support Delegate Malkus in
his amendment.
THE CHAIRMAN: Does any other dele-
gate desire to speak in opposition to the
amendment? Delegate Scanlan?
DELEGATE SCANLAN: Will Delegate
Malkus yield for a question?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Malkus, do
you yield to a question?
DELEGATE MALKUS: Yes, sir.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Scanlan.
DELEGATE SCANLAN: Delegate Mal-
kus, if your amendment should pass, plac-
ing the appointment power in the gov-
ernor's hand without the embellishment of
the nomination commission, would it be
your intention to support or oppose the re-
mainder of the sections that provide that
the judicial nominee shall run only against
his record, or would it be your intention
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