Judgeship

Washington - - Maryland's senators have sent President Barack Obama the names of three nominees for lifetime appointments as U.S. district judges, a source close to the process said late Friday. Ellen Hollander, 60, of Baltimore, a judge on the Maryland Court of Special Appeals since 1994, was the pick to replace longtime District Judge Andre Davis, who moved to the federal court of appeals last month. A graduate of Goucher College and Georgetown Law, she became the only woman on the state's second-highest court when then-Gov.

A commission is expected to decide Thursday which of the 16 lawyers seeking an Anne Arundel County judgeship should be considered by the governor for appointment to the job. The panel plans an interview marathon that day, questioning all of the applicants and completing reviews of recommendations and views of lawyer organizations, said Thomas J. Fleckenstein, chairman of the Judicial Nominating Commission for the county. The list the commission will issue is critical, because Gov. Martin O'Malley must select someone from the list, which will include at least three names.

With one judge retiring soon and a 12th judgeship to be added in the coming year, Gov. Martin O'Malley will appoint two judges to the Anne Arundel County Circuit Court bench, and already the prospect is looming of appointees facing challengers on the ballot. Fresh in lawyers' and politicians' minds is the election of 2004, in which two Republican lawyers mounted successful campaigns that ousted two judges appointed by Democratic Gov. Parris N. Glendening. It was the first time in a quarter-century that a sitting judge lost an election in the county.

Washington - U.S. District Judge Andr? M. Davis of Baltimore and top Justice Department nominee Tom Perez got a generally cordial reception at a Senate hearing Wednesday, but it remains unclear how long it will take for them to assume their new jobs. Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, who chaired the Senate confirmation hearing, said in a brief interview that it would take "at least a couple weeks" before the Judiciary committee acted on the nominations. Republicans could block votes on one or both men, either in committee or by the full Senate.

Gov. Martin O'Malley yesterday announced appointments of 13 judges, including one to the state's highest court - but did not tap the Senate president's son for a seat on the Anne Arundel County District Court. Thomas V. Miller III's nomination in May for a trial bench vacancy led to the protest resignations of three members of the county's judicial nominating commission. At the time, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, a Prince George's County Democrat, said he worried that political fallout from the protests would likely hurt the chances for his son, a commissioner on the state parole board, to be appointed.

Being the son of state Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller might land you a judgeship. Then again, it might not. Gov. Martin O'Malley's recent request to expand the pool of nominees for an Anne Arundel District Court judgeship for which Mr. Miller's son was an applicant opened the process to charges of political favoritism. That's an inauspicious way to fill a judicial vacancy, even a seat on Maryland's entry-level court. Thomas V. Miller III, a lawyer and member of the state Parole Commission for 12 years, wasn't included in the initial list of five nominees recommended by the county judicial nominating commission to fill three vacancies.

The Republican primary next month should prove lively for every contested race in Carroll County, and the races for the county's seven court positions will be no exception. Only two Democrats are running for court spots - one for clerk of the court and one for register of wills. In contrast, there are 11 Republicans vying for their party's nominations for courthouse jobs, plus three nonpartisan candidates for judgeships. This election marks only the second challenge to any sitting judge in Carroll County in more than 100 years, according to Judge J. Barry Hughes.

WASHINGTON - The Senate voted yesterday to confirm the appointment of former Alabama Attorney General William H. Pryor Jr. to the federal appeals court in Atlanta, handing President Bush a trifecta of controversial judicial confirmations in advance of an expected Supreme Court nomination. Pryor, an outspoken opponent of abortion and a champion of conservative causes, was confirmed by a narrow vote of 53-45, mostly along party lines. "This is progress for the United States Senate. This is progress for the American people," Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, said after the vote.