Maryland Court of Special Appeals
From 1805 to 1966, Maryland Court
of Appeals, Maryland’s highest court, was the only appellate
court. Established in 1966, it was designed to ease the caseload
of the Court of Appeals and to facilitate resolution of cases
requiring appellate adjudication. The Court of Special Appeals
sits in Annapolis, one floor below the Court of Appeals. The Court's
opinions are published officially in Maryland Appellate Reports
and unofficially in West's Atlantic Reporter.
Except for death penalty cases,
which are directly appealed to the Maryland Court
of Appeals, it has exclusive initial appellate jurisdiction
over judgments, decrees, and orders from the circuit or orphans'
courts. An appeal to the Court of Special Appeals is an appeal
of right to any party unhappy with the rulings made by the trial
court.
Cases heard by the Maryland Court of Special
Appeals are, with very limited exceptions, heard by a panel of
three judges. A total of thirteen judges are on the court. They
are appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of
the Senate consent, for ten-year terms. Unlike the state's top
court, which hand picks the cases it will hear, the Court of Special
Appeals decides every case that comes up from the circuit courts.
This is a lot of cases for thirteen judges. In fiscal year 2003,
for example, the court accepted 1,960 new cases, issued 1,305
written opinions and disposed of 1,901 cases.
Unlike circuit court judges who
run in contested elections after they are appointed, judges on
the Court of Special Appeals run in “retention elections.”
Voters can check either yes or no. If the judge gets more than
50% of the vote, he/she is “reelected.” A constitutional
amendment created the system in the mid-1970s, replacing the disaster
of contested appellate court elections. No Maryland appellate
judge has ever lost an election but there have been hotly contested
appellate confirmations in other jurisdictions. In 1986 voters
voted out three California Supreme Court justices after an organized
campaign to target those judges because of rulings they made from
the bench. In 1996, Tennessee voters voted out one of their state
supreme court justices.
One judge is elected from each of the seven appellate judicial circuits.
- 1st Appellate Judicial Circuit: Caroline, Cecil, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne's, Somerset, Talbot, Wicomico and Worcester counties
- 2nd Appellate Judicial Circuit: Baltimore County and Harford County
- 3rd Appellate Judicial Circuit: Allegany, Carroll, Frederick, Garrett, Howard and Washington counties
- 4th Appellate Judicial Circuit: Prince George's County
- 5th Appellate Judicial Circuit: Anne Arundel, Calvert, Charles and St. Mary's counties
- 6th Appellate Judicial Circuit: Baltimore City
- 7th Appellate Judicial Circuit: Montgomery County
The remaining six judges are selected at large from the entire state.
