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Robert N. McDonald
Robert N. McDonald was a judge for the 2nd Appellate Circuit of the Appellate Court of Maryland. He assumed office on January 24, 2012. He left office on February 23, 2022.
McDonald became a member of the court through gubernatorial appointment. He was appointed to the court by Democratic Governor Martin O'Malley on December 22, 2011, to succeed retired Judge Joseph Murphy. He was retained by voters in 2012 when he reached the mandatory retirement age of 70.[1][2][3] To learn more about this vacancy, click here.
The court's name changed from the Maryland Court of Appeals to the Maryland Supreme Court, following a ballot initiative that voters approved in November 2022.[4]
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country. As part of this study, we assigned each justice a Confidence Score describing our confidence in the degree of partisanship exhibited by the justices' past partisan behavior, before they joined the court.[5] McDonald received a confidence score of Mild Democrat.[6] Click here to read more about this study.
Biography
McDonald was born in Queens, New York, on February 23, 1952. He received his undergraduate degree from Harvard College in 1974 and his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1977. McDonald began his legal career as a law clerk for U.S. District Court Judge Frank A. Kaufman in 1977, and started work as an associate at Foley, Hoag & Eliot in 1978.
He was an assistant U.S. attorney from 1980 to 1983 and executive assistant U.S. attorney from 1983 to 1988, after which he joined the Maryland Office of the Attorney General where he would work until 2012. He was appointed to the court by Democratic Governor Martin O'Malley on December 22, 2011, to succeed retired Judge Joseph Murphy. He was retained by voters in 2012 to a term that expired in 2022 when he reached the mandatory retirement age of 70.[7][3]
Elections
2012
- See also: Maryland judicial elections, 2012
McDonald stood for retention to the court in 2012 and was retained.[8][9][10]
Analysis
Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)
Last updated: June 15, 2020
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.
The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on an ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. The scores were based on seven factors, including but not limited to party registration.[11]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[12]
- Mild Republican
- Strong Republican
This justice's Confidence Score, as well as the factors contributing to that score, is presented below. The information below was current as of June 2020.
Robert
McDonald
Maryland
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Mild Democrat - Judicial Selection Method:
Assisted appointment through governor controlled judicial nominating commission - Key Factors:
- Held political office as a Democrat
- Appointed by a Democratic governor
- State was a Democratic trifecta at time of appointment
Partisan Profile
Details:
McDonald worked as Chief Counsel for Opinions and Advice under a Democratic Maryland Attorney General from 1998 through 2012. He also served as the Securities Commissioner in the Bill Clinton (D) administration from 1992 through 1998. He was appointed by Gov. Martin O'Malley (D). At the time of his appointment, Maryland was a Democratic trifecta.
Noteworthy cases
Noteworthy cases may be selected due to their impact on legal precedent, substantial media attention, or overlaps with another area of editorial interest at Ballotpedia. To suggest cases we should cover here, email us.
State supreme court judicial selection in Maryland
- See also: Judicial selection in Maryland
The seven judges of the Maryland Supreme Court are selected through the assisted appointment method. The Maryland Judicial Nominating Commission is responsible for screening candidates and submitting a shortlist to the governor. This commission consists of 17 members appointed by the governor and the Maryland State Bar Association. The governor must appoint a judge from the commission's shortlist and the appointee must then be confirmed by the Maryland State Senate.[13][14]
After serving for one year, judges must stand for retention in the next general election if they wish to remain on the court. If retained, a judge wins a full ten-year term.[13]
The court's name changed from the Maryland Court of Appeals to the Maryland Supreme Court, following a ballot initiative that voters approved in November 2022.[4]
Qualifications
To serve on this court, a judge must be:
- a U.S. and state citizen;
- a registered state voter;
- a state resident for at least five years;
- a resident of the geographic area where the vacancy exists for at least six months;
- a state bar member;
- at least 30 years old; and
- under the age of 70 (retirement at 70 is mandatory).[13]
Chief justice
The chief justice of the court is designated by the governor to serve indefinite terms.[13]
Vacancies
If a midterm vacancy occurs on the court, the seat is filled as it normally would be if the vacancy occurred at the end of a judge's term. A judicial nominating commission recommends qualified candidates to the governor and the governor selects a successor from that list. The new appointee serves for at least one year and then stands for retention at the next general election.[13]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Maryland Reporter, "APPEALS COURT HEARS ARGUMENTS AGAINST LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT MAPS," November 7, 2012
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedbio - ↑ 3.0 3.1 The Daily Record, "8 judges, 1 attorney vie for 2 coming Md. high court vacancies," January 10, 2022
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 CBS Baltimore, "The Court of Appeals of Maryland is now the Supreme Court of Maryland," December 14, 2022
- ↑ We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.
- ↑ The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.
- ↑ Maryland Manual On-Line, "Robert N. McDonald," accessed August 9, 2016
- ↑ Maryland State Board of Elections, "General Election Candidates List, Judge for Court of Special Appeals," accessed July 14, 2021
- ↑ Maryland State Board of Elections, "General Election Results, Court of Special Appeals," accessed July 14, 2021
- ↑ Maryland State Board of Elections, "Official 2012 Presidential General Election Results," accessed December 1, 2012
- ↑ The seven factors were party registration, donations made to partisan candidates, donations made to political parties, donations received from political parties or bodies with clear political affiliation, participation in political campaigns, the partisanship of the body responsible for appointing the justice, and state trifecta status when the justice joined the court.
- ↑ An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 National Center for State Courts, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Maryland," accessed August 16, 2021
- ↑ Maryland Manual Online, APPELLATE COURTS JUDICIAL NOMINATING COMMISSION," February 28, 2020
Federal courts:
Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of Maryland • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of Maryland
State courts:
Maryland Supreme Court • Appellate Court of Maryland • Maryland District Courts • Maryland Circuit Courts • Maryland Orphans' Court
State resources:
Courts in Maryland • Maryland judicial elections • Judicial selection in Maryland
