SCM debuts SCOTUS-style orders list

By Steve Klepper (Bluesky @mdappeal)

We rarely cover certiorari denials, but today’s monthly list of denials featured a twist:

Clicking on the link brings you to an order with a familiar look for those who read the U.S. Supreme Court‘s certiorari orders:

This list adds significant transparency to the Supreme Court of Maryland’s certiorari docket. It consolidates information that until now required case-by-case searches on Maryland Judiciary Case Search: recusals; rulings on orders; information on which dispositions are dismissals, including the bases for dismissal; and denials of reconsideration.

Now here’s the big question for certiorari-nerds (with a hat tip to my colleague Joe Dudek): Will we begin seeing opinions dissenting from, or respecting, the denial of certiorari, as often appear at the end of the U.S. Supreme Court’s order lists?

Such opinions play a valuable role in the development of the law. A justice’s opinion respecting the U.S. Supreme Court’s denial of certiorari can explain that an issue is important, but that the case is a poor vehicle to decide the question, or that the Court is waiting for further development of the law before weighing in. An opinion dissenting from the denial of certiorari can help lay the groundwork for a future certiorari grant. Either way, such opinions promote transparency in how the Court exercises its discretion.

It has been just over a decade since Judge Harrell issued Maryland’s last opinion dissenting from the denial of certiorari. Consistent with Judge Harrell’s characterization of his own dissent as “a really futile … gesture” (quoting from Otter in Animal House), the opinion isn’t available on the Court’s website or on legal research services like Westlaw. The Supreme of Court of Maryland’s new orders lists may finally provide a proper forum for justices to explain their certiorari votes in appropriate cases.