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DELEGATE CLAGETT: Through the
long day yesterday, and almost the same
number of hours before we complete the
digestion of this judiciary article today, as
I have voted today in support of the plan
of the Committee, the so-called Niles plan,
I have heard a whisper going from these
walls, particularly from the far right rear
corner, where Governor Robert Bowie's por-
trait hangs, because it was his son who
was my great grandfather, during 1851 as
a delegate from Prince George's who led
the fight for judges reversing the seventy-
five-year practice which had proceeded the
second constitutional convention when the
judges had been appointed.
It was after that 1851 Convention and
for the 116 years up to the present time
that the judges were elected, and General
Thomas Field Bowie was apparently the
man who swung the tide in the 1851 Con-
stitutional Convention.
After finding that debate among the rec-
ords of that Convention, I have had them
extracted, and I have had the 20 pages of
that debate before me, and as the debate
on this floor has taken place, I have checked
off the points one by one by one, and find
them all to be the same; consequently,
there was no necessity of rising, as I saw
the tide moving in the direction it was, to
answer back to those whispering voices of
the past.
However, on this point, that is, tenure
of office, I find that my worthy ancestor
and I come together, because here is what
I find he says:
"It is not the mode of appointment but
the tenure of the office which constitutes an
independent judiciary," and this was after
words he had spoken earlier, "The great
battle to be fought here in the first in-
stances would be between those who are
friends of the elected judiciary and those
who are opponents. Let the terms of office
be long enough to place the judges beyond
the influence of caprice, and their inde-
pendence will be effectively secured by the
people, as if they were appointed in any
other mode."
Then on the following page he says, "The
bill reported by the Committee on the Ju-
diciary requires elections for judges to be
held every ten years. I wish it were still
longer, but I shall vote for that recom-
mendation."
And so shall I.
THE CHAIRMAN: Does any other dele-
gate desire to speak in favor of the amend-
ment?
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Delegate Roger.
DELEGATE ROGER: Mr. Chairman, I
would like to speak in support of the
amendment. Some of the reasons why you
continually hear this matter brought up
daily and so many hours is because people
hate to make this change and because the
election of judges in the past had been a
successful thing.
You will find in some ways — Italian
people are judges, Jewish people are judges,
and Negroes are judges, and in some ways
we get all representation. I was trying to
get at that in 40 states you have a popu-
lation of judges and it is hard to give up.
We sometimes think that long tenure of
office makes for a good judge but you can
imagine how bad it is when you have a
bad judge for so long.
I think we should change it around, if
you want to change it around. But we
should not have it so long one way without
trying it the other.
THE CHAIRMAN: The Chair recognizes
Delegate Weidemeyer in favor of the
amendment.
DELEGATE WEIDEMEYER: If no one
else will speak, I will remain silent.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Weide-
meyer, do you also want to remain silent?
DELEGATE WEIDEMEYER: I want
to ask Delegate Clagett a question.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Clagett, do
you yield to a question?
DELEGATE CLAGETT: Yes, sir.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Weide-
meyer.
DELEGATE WEIDEMEYER: Do you
agree with your ancestors that it is not the
mode of appointment but the tenure?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Clagett.
DELEGATE CLAGETT: Fortunately,
the whispers were not shudders so I dis-
agree with you.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Johnson.
DELEGATE JOHNSON: I think there
might be a great fear on the part of the
people that this new system of appointing
judges is going to create a type of a dic-
tatorship. I think we can answer that argu-
ment by saying that there will be a fre-
quent review of the judge's record on the
part of the people and in so doing we will
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