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all of the racetracks in Maryland because
some people are compulsive gamblers?
Fellow delegates, there are just some
things that we have to learn to live with,
and I think it would be a very serious mis-
take if we would eliminate this election
process.
I submit that there is a difference be-
tween appellate court and the district court
level, and I urge you to give this matter
very serious consideration, in spite of all
the actions of this Committee to the con-
trary.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Mudd.
DELEGATE MUDD: Mr. Chairman, I
would like to yield three minutes of my
controlled time, or more if he likes, to Dele-
gate James.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate James.
DELEGATE JAMES: Mr. Chairman,
fellow delegates, I would like to argue in
favor of the judge running against his
record.
Under the present law a governor ap-
points a judge in the first instance. There
is probationary service of a minimum of
one year. Then there is an election. The
election consists of the primary, it permits
cross-filing, and then the general election,
which has no party designation. The elec-
tion is for fifteen years, and again for
fifteen years if the judge has not achieved
the ag>e of seventy. He is reappointed in
the normal customary practice, and then he
goes through the process of reelection. This
reappointment is customary. It is seldom
the judge is not reappointed; so in prac-
tice, the Maryland system is really an ap-
pointive system. Seventy per cent of Mary-
land's judges presently serving were ap-
pointed by Governor Tawes. Not one of
these appointments, Democrat or Repub-
lican, was defeated at the polls. Governor
McKeldin's record was almost as good.
In practice, an appointive judge is seldom
defeated.
The reason simply is sitting judges are
backed by the press and the bar, and this
is known to everyone. In most cases there
is simply no contest. Reappointment, let's
say in fifteen years, is customary. I do not
know of a single instance in which a judge
has not been reappointed, except possibly
in a situation where he is approaching the
age of seventy.
Unfortunate results of this system are
numerous: The first and most serious ob-
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jection is that a sitting judge must risk
violation of judicial ethics to get the elected
fifteen-year term.
Let me read to you from the Canons of
Judicial Ethics, the American Bar Associa-
tion Canons, as adopted in Maryland.
"Section 258, Partisan Politics. He
should avoid making political speeches,
making or soliciting payment of assess-
ments or contributions to party funds,
the public endorsement of candidates for
political office, and participation in party
conventions. He should neither accept
nor retain a place on any party commit-
tee nor act as party leader, nor engage
generally in partisan activities."
This is so tight in Maryland that the
Maryland Bar Association added this
amendment: "Where, however, it is neces-
sary for judges to be nominated and elected
as candidates of a political party, nothing
herein contained shall prevent the judge
from attending or speaking at political
gatherings or making contributions to cam-
paign funds of the party that has nomi-
nated him and seeks election or reelection."
Now, paragraph 30 in part reads, under
Candidacy For Office — "If a judge becomes
a candidate for any judicial office, he should
refrain from all conduct which might tend
to arouse reasonable suspicion, that he is
using the power and prestige of his ju-
dicial office to promote his candidacy, or
the success of his party. He should not
permit others to do anything in behalf of
his candidacy, which would reasonably
lead to such suspicion."
If it is possible to run for office and
comply with all of those rigid rules of
ethics, it would be a surprise to me.
Now, the next objection is that he simply
must spend a large sum of money for elec-
tion expenses to secure the fifteen-year
term. Of course, everyone knows the prob-
lems of raising money and placing enough
money in the campaign fund to get the ad-
vertisements and what is necessary, and
this places any candidate, who is in a
stringent financial situation, in a very dif-
ficult situation, especially if he is a candi-
date for the judiciary.
So the alternative is that he has lawyers
and bar associations to promote his can-
didacy. This inevitably leaves a judge in-
debted to these people who have actively
promoted his campaign.
The spacing of this process eliminates
many qualified lawyers. Moreover, the
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