Maryland Court

William H. Adkins II, a retired judge of the Maryland Court of Appeals and former Easton resident, died of cancer Monday at his home in Williamstown, Mass. He was 77. Judge Adkins was born into a family of lawyers and judges and had ties to the Eastern Shore going back generations. He was a well-known civil rights activist and judicial reform expert long before being named to the state's highest court in 1986. Born in New York City, he was the son of Leonard Dawson Adkins, a lawyer who headed a Manhattan law firm, and Grace R. Adkins.

Maryland's highest court struck down yesterday the General Assembly's attempt to fire the members of the Public Service Commission, calling it a usurping of the gubernatorial power that is "repugnant to the Maryland Constitution." The decision is almost certain to set off more litigation because it left in limbo the $10.8 billion merger of BGE's parent company and a Florida utility. The Maryland Court of Appeals blocked the creation of a new Public Service Commission, while leaving intact a provision that prohibits the current regulatory agency from ruling on the merger.

James H. Norris Jr., a retired state court administrator and clerk of Maryland's highest court, died April 8 in Florida after falling down steps while sightseeing. He was 77. Mr. Norris and his wife, who moved to Florida from Maryland eight years ago, were on an Elderhostel trip in Tarpon Springs when Mr. Norris tripped while descending a flight of concrete steps leading to a bayou. He suffered severe head injuries and was pronounced dead on the scene when paramedics arrived minutes later, the police said.

More than six years ago, Maryland's highest court voted to disbar Ira C. Cooke, once one of Annapolis' most prominent lobbyists, because of Mr. Cooke's conviction in an embezzlement case in California. A couple of years later, that conviction was reversed by the high court of California, and prosecutors in Bakersfield decided against a retrial. So, back in Annapolis, Mr. Cooke asked the Maryland Court of Appeals to reinstate him to the bar here. According to records, Mr. Cooke made that predictable request in the court's fall term of 2007 - by the calendar I've been using, four years ago - but the Court of Appeals only ruled on the matter late last month.

IN THE LAST half-century, no one matched the contributions of Robert C. Murphy to Maryland's system of dispensing justice. Judge Murphy, who died Monday at 74, was the father of Maryland's modern judiciary. Key to his success was a love of people. He always returned phone calls, even to irate citizens. The Baltimore native proved popular with politicians, in part because he relished the give-and-take of the legislative process and buttonholing lawmakers. But his real strength came from his direct, honest approach and his likability.

Alexander Lacy Cummings, former longtime clerk of the Maryland Court of Appeals who retired last month because of illness, died Tuesday of prostate cancer at his Towson home. He was 66. Before Mr. Cummings became the 25th clerk of the Court of Appeals in 1983, he had served in the Maryland attorney general's office, which he joined in 1971, as an assistant attorney general. As chief deputy of the criminal appeals and correctional litigation division, Mr. Cummings argued between 700 and 800 criminal appeals before the U.S. Supreme Court, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the Maryland Court of Appeals and the state's Court of Special Appeals.

The state's highest court ordered a reprimand yesterday of Montgomery County State's Attorney Douglas F. Gansler for remarks he made to the media that the Attorney Grievance Commission argued could have tainted cases. The decision marks the first time the Maryland Court of Appeals has disciplined an attorney for breaching the Maryland Rules of Professional Conduct. In a unanimous opinion, the court stated that between 2000 and 2001, Gansler violated those rules when he "spoke outside of the court about matters that had substantial likelihood of depriving several criminal defendants of fair trials."

How ironic that a divorce will be remembered for strengthening the rights of all Marylanders to be married regardless of sexual orientation. With its slam-dunk 7-0 opinion issued Friday in the matter of two women seeking a divorce, the Maryland Court of Appeals has ruled that Maryland must recognize same-sex marriages legally certified elsewhere. It's a huge victory for the ongoing efforts to legalize same-sex marriage in Maryland and adds a whole new dimension to this fall's referendum.

Maryland's top federal prosecutor and a Howard County Circuit Court judge were among five applicants nominated by the Appellate Judicial Nominating Commission yesterday for appointment to the Maryland Court of Appeals, the state's highest court. A seat on the court opened this month when Judge Lawrence F. Rodowsky, a member of the top court since 1980, reached the mandatory retirement age of 70. "It was an excellent list of candidates," said commission member Albert Brault, "and because they were so highly qualified, it was an easy process" to select nominees.

Marquis Jones doesn't believe she owes money on a credit-card account that a debt-buying company sued to collect from her. More importantly, though, the firm never proved she did. But because the Severn woman wasn't given notice of the lawsuit - the company's process server claimed her nonexistent "wife" accepted the summons - she wasn't in court to point this out. So an Anne Arundel County judge approved a $992 judgment against her last...