816/Maryland Manual
appropriate disciplining of a ]\idge or, in an ap-
propriate case, retirement. All proceedings, testi-
mony, and evidence before the Commission shall
be confidential and privileged, except as provided
by rule of the Court of Appeals; the record and
any proceeding filed with the Court of Appeals
shall lose its confidential character, except as or-
dered by the Court of Appeals. No judge shall
participate as a member of the Commission in
any proceedings involving his own conduct, and
the Governor shall appoint another judge as a
substitute member of the Commission for those
proceedings. The Court of Appeals shall prescribe
by rule the means to implement and enforce the
powers of the Commission and the practice and
procedure before the Commission.
(b) Upon any recommendation of the Commis-
sion, the Court of Appeals, after a hearing and
upon a finding of misconduct while in office, or
of persistent failure to perform the duties of his
office, or of conduct prejudicial to the proper ad-
ministration of justice, may remove the judge
from office or may censure or otherwise discipline
him, or the Court of Appeals, after hearing and
upon a finding of disability which is or is likely
to become permanent and which seriously inter-
feres with the performance of his duties, may re-
tire the judge from office. A judge removed under
this section, and his surviving spouse, shall have
the rights and privileges accruing from his judi-
cial service only to the extent prescribed by the
order of removal. A judge retired under this sec-
tion shall have the rights and privileges pre-
scribed by law for other retired judges. No judge
of the Court of Appeals shall sit in judgment in
any hearing involving his own conduct.
(c) This section is alternative to, and cumula-
tive with, the methods of retirement and removal
provided in Sections 3 and 4 of this Article, and
in Section 26 of Article III of this Constitution.
SEC. 5." Upon every occurrence or recurrence
of a vacancy through death, resignation, removal,
disqualification by reason of age or otherwise, or
expiration of the term of fifteen years of any
judge of a circuit court or of the Supreme Bench
of Baltimore City, or creation of the office of any
such judge, or in any other way, the Governor
shall appoint a person duly qualified to fill said
office, who shall hold the same until the election
and qualification of his successor; except that
when a vacancy shall exist in the office of Chief
Judge of the Supreme Bench of Baltimore City,
the Governor may designate an Associate Judge
" Thus amended by Chapter 551, Acts of 1975, ratified No-
vember 2,1976.

Article IV
of said Supreme Bench as Chiel Judge of said Su-
preme Bench, and such appointee as Chief Judge
shall hold such office for the residue of the term
for which he was last elected an Associate Judge
of said Supreme Bench. His successor shall be
elected at the first biennial general election for
Representatives in Congress after the expiration of
the term of fifteen years (if the vacancy occurred
in that way) or the first such general election after
one year after the occurrence of the vacancy in
any other way than through expiration of such
term. Except in case of reappointment of a judge
upon expiration of his term of fifteen years, no
person shall be appointed who will become
disqualified by reason of age and thereby unable
to continue to hold office until the prescribed time
when his successor would have been elected.
SEC. 5A."* (a) A vacancy in the office of a
judge of an appellate court, whether occasioned
by the death, resignation, removal, retirement,
disqualification by reason of age, or rejection by
the voters of an incumbent, the creation of the
office of a judge, or otherwise, shall be filled as
provided in this section.
(b) Upon the occurrence of a vacancy the Gov-
ernor shall appoint, by and with the advice and
consent of the Senate, a person duly qualified to
fill said office who shall hold the same until the
election for continuance in office as provided in
subsections (c) and (d).
(c) The continuance in office of a judge of the
Court of Appeals is subject to approval or rejec-
tion by the registered voters of the appellate judi-
cial circuit from which he was appointed at the
next general election following the expiration of
one year from the date of the occurrence of the
vacancy which he was appointed to fill, and at
the general election next occurring every ten years
thereafter.
(d) The continuance in office of a judge of
the Court of Special Appeals is subject to ap-
proval or rejection by the registered voters of
the geographical area prescribed by law at the
next general election following the expiration of
one year from the date of the occurrence of the
vacancy which he was appointed to fill, and at
the general election next occurring every ten
years thereafter.
(e) The approval or rejection by the registered
voters of a judge as provided for in subsections (c)
and (d) shall be a vote for the judge's retention in
" Added by Chapter 551, Acts of 1975, ratified November 2,
1976.