Judiciary

Maryland's chief judge pressed lawmakers yesterday to approve salary raises for the state's 272 judges and add 13 judgeships, including three in Baltimore City and two in Anne Arundel County. In his State of the Judiciary address to a joint session of the Maryland Senate and House of Delegates, Court of Appeals Chief Judge Robert M. Bell urged legislators to adopt the Judicial Compensation Commission's call for increases ranging from $15,000 to $30,000, phased in over four years. "The real pay of Maryland judges has decreased over the years.

Democratic House Speaker Michael E. Busch removed a top ally of Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. from a committee that will consider medical malpractice reform legislation, a change made yesterday, days before a special session to address the issue. Del. Anthony J. O'Donnell, the House minority whip from Southern Maryland, reacted angrily to his reassignment from the Judiciary Committee, where he served for 10 years, to the Appropriations Committee. "I think the speaker is moving me off there so I can't be a strong voice on medical malpractice," O'Donnell said.

WASHINGTON - Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously endorsed Sen. Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania moderate, as their next chairman yesterday, after he publicly promised not to hinder President Bush's legislative agenda. Religious conservatives had urged Republican lawmakers to bar Specter from the powerful chairmanship, arguing that he could not be trusted to support Bush's anti-abortion judicial nominees because he supports abortion rights. They also denounced Specter for observing in a post-election news conference that the Senate was unlikely to confirm any judicial nominee who opposed abortion because Democrats would filibuster such nominees.

WASHINGTON - As Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania arrived yesterday on Capitol Hill, the challenge he faced was all around. Anti-abortion demonstrators were holding a prayer vigil outside Senate office buildings to rally opposition to his long-cherished dream of chairing the Senate Judiciary Committee. Inside, conservative groups were bombarding senators with phone calls and e-mails bearing a single message: Don't let Specter take charge of the committee with authority over President Bush's judicial appointments.

WASHINGTON - Angry conservatives flooded Senate phone and fax lines yesterday demanding that Republicans prevent Sen. Arlen Specter from presiding over the Judiciary Committee after his comments predicting that strongly anti-abortion judicial nominees might be rejected in the Senate. Republican lawmakers and top Senate aides, speaking privately for the most part, said the uproar from the right was becoming an impediment for Specter, a Pennsylvania lawmaker who has coveted the chairmanship.

WASHINGTON - The Senate Judiciary Committee put off a vote yesterday on President Bush's choice of Claude A. Allen for a federal appeals court after Maryland's two Democratic senators renewed their argument that the seat that would be filled by Allen, a Virginian, rightfully belongs to Maryland. Sens. Barbara A. Mikulski and Paul S. Sarbanes asserted that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, which includes Maryland and four other states, has long apportioned seats according to each state's population and that Allen's ascension would upset that tradition.

WASHINGTON - Two Republican staff members who worked for the Senate Judiciary Committee improperly downloaded thousands of documents from the computer files of their Democratic counterparts, revealing Democratic strategies for opposing President Bush's judicial nominees, according to a report released by the committee yesterday. Over a period of 18 months, material was taken from the files of some staff members without their knowledge or permission, including more than 2,000 documents from the staff of Sen. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the report said.

A group of law enforcement and judicial officials will be joining Carroll County administrators in deciding whether the county needs a new jail. The county commissioners agreed yesterday to add to a committee that will work with consultants to help plan a new facility. Estimating that the county's share to build a jail could be as much as $25 million, Ted Zaleski, the county's director of management and budget, said the facility "has the potential to be the largest capital project the county has ever taken on."

A group of law enforcement and judicial officials will be joining Carroll County administrators in deciding whether the county needs a new jail. The county commissioners agreed yesterday to add to a committee that will work with consultants to help plan a new facility. Estimating that the county's share to build a jail could be as much as $25 million, Ted Zaleski, the county's director of management and budget, said the facility "has the potential to be the largest capital project the county has ever taken on."

WASHINGTON - President Bush re-nominated Claude A. Allen for a federal appeals court seat yesterday, putting the conservative Virginian back in the spotlight and re-igniting a battle that pitted Maryland's two Democratic senators against the White House last year. Allen was nominated last spring to fill a vacancy on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, formerly held by Francis D. Murnaghan Jr., a liberal from Baltimore who died in 2000. Sens. Paul S. Sarbanes and Barbara A. Mikulski of Maryland said yesterday that they would again raise vehement opposition to Allen's nomination on the grounds that the seat he would fill has traditionally been held by a Marylander.