Federal Judge

A federal judge has declared unconstitutional a provision in Maryland law regulating who can carry a handgun, effectively loosening the restrictions governing firearm possession on the state's streets. In a 23-page memorandum opinion, made public Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Benson E. Legg said a state requirement forcing those applying for a gun-carry permit to show that they have a "good and substantial reason" to do so "impermissibly infringes the right to keep and bear arms," as guaranteed by the Second Amendment.

Opponents of Maryland's strict gun laws have long complained that obtaining a permit to carry a handgun has been nearly impossible. Among the many rules, the state requires that applicants show a "good and substantial reason" to carry around a handgun. A federal judge has agreed with the opponents. U.S. District Judge Benson E. Legg called the "good and substantial reason" clause unconstitutionally broad -- an arbitrary regulation designed to minimize the number of guns on the street, but one that doesn't necessarily keep everyone safe.

U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams Jr. is scheduled to speak Sunday morning at Asbury United Methodist Church in Annapolis. Judge Williams, who presides over cases in the federal court in Greenbelt, has been on the federal bench since 1994. "There is a need for our youth to see role models like Judge Williams," said Carl O. Snowden, director of the Office for Civil Rights for the Office of the Maryland Attorney General. Snowden said Williams will speak as part of the service, which is open to the public, at 11 a.m. Among his degrees, Williams received his undergraduate and law degrees from Howard University, as well a master's degree from the School of Divinity there.

Maryland's restrictions on carrying a handgun outside the home have been among the strongest in the nation - and for good reason, given the death and destruction perpetrated by those possessing handguns in this state. So it is regrettable that the standard is now under threat because a federal judge, emboldened by a pair of recent Supreme Court decisions that have expanded the reach of the Second Amendment, has found a portion of the law unconstitutional. Make no mistake, U.S. District Court Judge Benson Everett Legg is pushing the Second Amendment envelope in his 23-page opinion that an existing restriction on handgun carry permits - that the applicant must show a "good and substantial reason" to have one - infringes on the individual's right to keep and bear arms.

Opponents of Maryland's strict gun laws have long complained that obtaining a permit to carry a handgun has been nearly impossible. Among the many rules, the state requires that applicants show a "good and substantial reason" to carry around a handgun. A federal judge has agreed with the opponents. U.S. District Judge Benson E. Legg called the "good and substantial reason" clause unconstitutionally broad -- an arbitrary regulation designed to minimize the number of guns on the street, but one that doesn't necessarily keep everyone safe.

A Maryland federal judge ruled Tuesday that some Baltimore public employees' pensions were harmed by the city's elimination last year of payments tied to market returns. U.S. District Court Judge Marvin J. Garbis decided that police and firefighters who were either receiving benefits or eligible to retire were "substantially impaired" by the city's decision to eliminate a gain-sharing mechanism for retirees. Garbis also allowed the plaintiffs who are already receiving pension benefits to proceed as a class.

Federal authorities say a Maryland inmate has been charged with threatening President Barack Obama and a federal judge in letters. Forty-year-old Willie Ray Bryant was indicted Monday in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt. According to the two-page indictment, Bryant mailed a letter on Oct. 12 with a threat to Obama. The indictment says he also mailed a letter in September to U.S. District Judge William Quarles that included a threat to mail an explosive device to the judge. Authorities say Bryant is serving a 40-year sentence for a string of robberies on the Eastern Shore.

A federal judge in Baltimore has denied efforts by state Sen. Ulysses Currie and two former executives of Shoppers Food Warehouse to throw out bribery and extortion charges, leaving the prosecutor's case intact. U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett ruled Friday that the government had correctly charged a case that alleges Currie was paid $245,000 in bribes over a five-year period for legislative favors and influence beneficial to the supermarket chain. Currie, a Democrat, is accused of using his influence as the chairman of a powerful Senate committee to do favors for Shoppers, a company headquartered in his Prince George's County district.

A federal judge said Monday he will rule by next week whether eight bribery and extortion charges filed against state Sen. Ulysses Currie and two former executives of Shoppers Food Warehouse, which employed Currie as a consultant, will stand. Defense attorneys argued during a lengthy hearing that the counts were unconstitutionally vague or inappropriate. U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett said he will issue a written opinion on the matter within 10 days. The validity of the charges was the only issue he declined to immediately settle Monday, during a four-hour, two-part hearing that addressed the defense team's access to information before the scheduled Sept.

A crack cocaine dealer from Baltimore was sentenced yesterday to 10 years in prison by a federal judge. U.S. District Judge Andre M. Davis also ordered Troy Donte Garner, 29, to five years of supervised release for possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine According to his guilty plea, federal agents saw Garner drive to Eastpoint Mall in Baltimore. When Garner left the mall and approached his car, agents detained him and seized a loaded Sig Sauer handgun, 44 1/2 grams of cocaine base and a digital scale from his car.

Constitutional lawyers said Tuesday that a recent federal court decision overturning a portion of Maryland's gun-control law will likely be upheld on appeal and called the ruling groundbreaking given the liberalism of the state from which it came. The decision, made public Monday, relaxed state requirements for carrying a gun and broadly interpreted the Second Amendment's "right to bear arms" as extending beyond the home. The analysis surprised some, who were used to seeing states like Maryland, which has a restrictive approach to gun rights, limit firearm use and possession.

A federal judge has declared unconstitutional a provision in Maryland law regulating who can carry a handgun, effectively loosening the restrictions governing firearm possession on the state's streets. In a 23-page memorandum opinion, made public Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Benson E. Legg said a state requirement forcing those applying for a gun-carry permit to show that they have a "good and substantial reason" to do so "impermissibly infringes the right to keep and bear arms," as guaranteed by the Second Amendment.

Annapolis lobbyist Bruce C. Bereano is appealing a federal judge's decision to uphold his 1994 fraud convictions, according to court records. Bereano will be taking his case — based on an argument from the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court's decision in an appeal of the case against former Enron president Jeffrey Skilling — to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, his attorneys wrote in a court filing Thursday. A federal jury convicted Bereano on eight counts, though one was later dismissed, of mail fraud that stemmed from the funneling of illegal campaign contributions to Maryland politicians.

Ocean City has agreed not to enforce provisions in its town code that could be construed as violating the free-speech rights of street performers under a proposed consent decree filed in federal court Friday. If a judge accepts the terms, writers, painters, performers, sculptors, musicians and others would be able to sell their works along the boardwalk without fear of interference by police. Those who sell manufactured goods such as candles, stuffed animals and sunglasses are not included in the protected class.

A Maryland federal judge ruled Tuesday that some Baltimore public employees' pensions were harmed by the city's elimination last year of payments tied to market returns. U.S. District Court Judge Marvin J. Garbis decided that police and firefighters who were either receiving benefits or eligible to retire were "substantially impaired" by the city's decision to eliminate a gain-sharing mechanism for retirees. Garbis also allowed the plaintiffs who are already receiving pension benefits to proceed as a class.

As rapidly evolving technological advances allow people to be tracked by global positioning devices found in most new cellphones, Congress and courthouses nationwide are trying to balance privacy rights with the needs of law enforcement to locate criminals. Maryland U.S. District Judge Susan K. Gauvey recently refused to issue a warrant sought by federal authorities to find a suspect through his cellphone's GPS data, saying the government was trying to use technology in a new way — "not to collect evidence of a crime, but solely to locate a charged defendant.

A story in yesterday's paper about retired federal Judge Norman P. Ramsey should have said Gov. William Donald Schaefer attended the University of Baltimore Law School.The Sun regrets the errors.When Norman P. Ramsey announced last year that he planned to leave the federal bench in Baltimore, he didn't envision a retirement filled with games of shuffleboard. He didn't intend to go back to work every day, either.Yet, Mr. Ramsey remains enmeshed in legal matters as he commands an office at Semmes, Bowen & Semmes, the law firm he left in 1980, after then-President Carter appointed him to a federal judgeship.

A Frederick man can sue the city over a monument of the Ten Commandments that sits on a parcel formerly owned by the city and visible from a public park, a federal judge has ruled. Judge William D. Quarles Jr. of the U.S. District Court in Baltimore refused to dismiss a lawsuit that says the 5-foot-tall, tablet-shaped monument violates the separation of church and state. The suit says that last year's sale of the monument in the Bentz Street Graveyard Memorial Ground to a private group was an attempt to evade legal liability while allowing the memorial to remain on "apparently public property."

A federal judge in Baltimore has denied efforts by state Sen. Ulysses Currie and two former executives of Shoppers Food Warehouse to throw out bribery and extortion charges, leaving the prosecutor's case intact. U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett ruled Friday that the government had correctly charged a case that alleges Currie was paid $245,000 in bribes over a five-year period for legislative favors and influence beneficial to the supermarket chain. Currie, a Democrat, is accused of using his influence as the chairman of a powerful Senate committee to do favors for Shoppers, a company headquartered in his Prince George's County district.

A federal judge said Monday he will rule by next week whether eight bribery and extortion charges filed against state Sen. Ulysses Currie and two former executives of Shoppers Food Warehouse, which employed Currie as a consultant, will stand. Defense attorneys argued during a lengthy hearing that the counts were unconstitutionally vague or inappropriate. U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett said he will issue a written opinion on the matter within 10 days. The validity of the charges was the only issue he declined to immediately settle Monday, during a four-hour, two-part hearing that addressed the defense team's access to information before the scheduled Sept.