Only Two Apply for Court of Appeals, Triggering Mandatory Re-Advertisement

A vacancy on Maryland’s highest court opened when Court of Appeals Judge Glenn T. Harrell, who occupied the seat reserved for Prince George’s County, hit mandatory retirement age on June 27. The joke in legal circles has been that we’ll now learn whether there are any Republican lawyers in Prince George’s County (aside from a former lieutenant governor and RNC chair).

You can keep joking away. Steve Lash is reporting, from behind the The Daily Record paywall, that there were only two applications filed by today’s deadline. Both applications came from Democratic appointees to lower courts: Court of Special Appeals Judge Michele D. Hotten and Prince George’s County Circuit Court Judge Sean D. Wallace. According to Lash, this development triggers Governor Hogan’s executive order that any judicial position must be re-advertised if there are fewer than three applicants. It looks like Judge Harrell’s regular sitting-by-designation gig will be continuing for the foreseeable future.