Maryland Court of Appeals Reviews Conduct of Baltimore County Judge

(You can find the Maryland Lawyer Blog’s May 13, 2008 update on this case here.)

The Baltimore Sun reports today on the Maryland Court of Appeals consideration of whether Baltimore County District Judge Bruce S. Lamdin should be removed from the bench for inappropriate comments that he made on the record in several cases. At issue are Judge Lamdin’s negative comments about drug treatment programs and the correctional officers at Maryland prisons, a joke that Baltimore County Circuit Court judges spend their afternoons sipping cocktails rather than working (which might be a harmless joke although I don’t know the context), and complaints about Judge Lamdin’s cursing.

I’m not defending Judge Lamdin but I suspect that several judges – particularly in District Court – would whither under similar scrutiny which leads to some concern that he is being unfairly singled out. Judges typically get a lot of latitude on this kind of stuff which likely means he ruffled the wrong person’s feathers either because they had access to power or were tenacious in demanding that the allegations be fully explored.