Maryland’s Protection of the Judiciary

I have followed the suggestion of The Hon. Paul W. Grimm (ret.) to speak out about threats against the Judiciary.  American Bar Association Statement on Threats Against the Judiciary (Apr. 8, 2024).  In doing so, I reported on then-pending legislative proposals in Maryland.  Maryland Bills to Protect Judges and Their Children (Feb. 23, 2024).

It is a pleasure to read that Md. lawmakers pass bill to protect judges’ personal information after fatal shooting – Maryland Daily Record (thedailyrecord.com)(Apr. 9, 2024).  In that article, Madeline O’Neill reports that the bill is on Governor’s desk.  She wrote:

The bill covers current and retired state and federal judges, magistrates, [State] District Court commissioners, and their spouses, children or any other dependents who live with them in Maryland. Judges would be allowed to shield a variety of personal information, including their home addresses, phone numbers and personal email addresses, as well as their child’s name or school.

Id.

The bill creates a Task Force to Ensure the Safety of Judicial Facilities, an Office of Information Privacy in the Administrative Office of the Courts and: “Government entities and individuals must remove the personal information within 72 hours of receiving a request under the bill.”  Id.

The article states that: “Congress also passed legislation allowing federal judges to remove personal information from government internet sites in 2022, two years after a district court judge’s 20-year-old son was murdered in New Jersey.”

The bill was SB 575, cross-filed as HB 664, “Court Personnel – Protection of Personal Information (Judge Andrew F. Wilkinson Judicial Security Act)”  It named in honor of the late Judge Wilkinson who was murdered.  The bill recites:

WHEREAS, Judge Andrew F. Wilkinson was appointed to the Circuit Court for Washington County in January 2020, and served the Maryland Judiciary and the citizens of this State with distinction until his untimely death on October 19, 2023; and

WHEREAS, On October 19, 2023, Judge Wilkinson calmly and even–handedly presided over a divorce and custody case involving extensive testimony of abuse inflicted on one of the litigants and her children; and

WHEREAS, Judge Wilkinson should have been able to peacefully return home to his family in Hagerstown after having appropriately met his professional obligations; and

WHEREAS, Judge Wilkinson left the courthouse after issuing his ruling and was shot and killed in the driveway of his personal residence by the abusive litigant over whose case he had just presided; and

WHEREAS, Protecting the safety and security of judicial officers throughout Maryland and the United States has become an issue of critical importance due to threats, assaults, and murders of judicial officers and their family members; and

WHEREAS, The National Center for State Courts reports Judge Wilkinson’s murder as the third targeted shooting of a state court judge in the last 3 years; and

WHEREAS, The United States Congress passed the Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act in 2020, after an aggrieved litigant murdered U.S. District Judge Esther Salas’s only son at her personal residence; and

WHEREAS, The General Assembly acknowledges these increasing threats to judicial officers and seeks to ensure the protection, safety, and security of judicial officers and their families throughout Maryland; now, therefore,

Accordingly, the bill was enacted and is awaiting signature by the Governor.

The bill provides for recovery of attorneys’ fees and imposition of punitive damages if an entity willfully refuses to remove personal information after request.  It also prohibits publication if the publisher should reasonably know that there is an imminent and serious threat of specified negative consequences and may impose criminal penalties.  The Fiscal Note states that there will be little fiscal impact.

HB 930 did not make its way through the General Assembly.  It would have required county school superintendents to allow Judge’s children to attend a public school in a different county.