VIDEO: Candidates for Attorney General Support Marijuana Decriminalization // PLUS: Majority for Legalizing in Gallup Poll

ALL FOUR DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL SUPPORT MARIJUANA DECRIMINALIZATION - Last night Maryland Juice attended a packed Democratic candidates forum for the state's heated Attorney General race. Though Sen. Brian Frosh could not make the event, Delegates Aisha Braveboy, Jon Cardin & Bill Frick showed up at the Wheaton Library to talk about law enforcement, consumer, civil rights and environmental issues.

Bill Frick, Jon Cardin & Aisha Braveboy (left to right)

Given that efforts to remove jail penalties for non-violent marijuana possession have stalled in the State House, I decided to ask the Democratic candidates whether they supported Sen. Bobby Zirkin's legislation to remove jail-time as a penalty for pot possession. As luck would have it, it appears that every single Democratic candidate for Maryland's top law enforcement office supports marijuana decriminalization (see the video below):



Though Sen. Brian Frosh was not available to answer this question at last night's forum, it is worth noting that he already voted in favor of Sen. Bobby Zirkin's bill to remove jail-time as a penalty for marijuana possession. That means that every single Democrat running for Attorney General supports marijuana decriminalization, and at least one gubernatorial candidate (Heather Mizeur) has also gone on record supporting this common-sense reform.


NEW GALLUP POLL SHOWS SUPER-MAJORITY OF DEMOCRATS SUPPORT POT LEGALIZATION  //  MARIJUANA REFORM GOES MAINSTREAM - It is worth noting that the marijuana reform proposal advancing in Maryland is a "decriminalization" bill that would replace jail penalties for possession with civil fines (like a traffic ticket). This is a step below marijuana "legalization" policies (eg: to tax and regulate pot similarly to alcohol) that have been passed in Washington and Colorado. But once again, it appears that the public is more forward-thinking than lawmakers on issues.

A new Gallup poll released yesterday shows that a strong majority of Americans (58%) support full-on marijuana legalization, and the trend line on these numbers is very clear. Additionally, among Democrats support for marijuana legalization is at a whopping super-majority of 65%. Gallup's write-up of the poll results notes that the surge in marijuana support is following the same trajectory we witnessed with marriage equality, and (not surprisingly) most of the opponents are again Republicans (excerpt below):

GALLUP:  For marijuana advocates, the last 12 months have been a period of unprecedented success as Washington and Colorado became the first states to legalize recreational use of marijuana. And now for the first time, a clear majority of Americans (58%) say the drug should be legalized. This is in sharp contrast to the time Gallup first asked the question in 1969, when only 12% favored legalization....

A sizable percentage of Americans (38%) this year admitted to having tried the drug, which may be a contributing factor to greater acceptance....

The movement to legalize marijuana mirrors the relatively recent success of the movement to legalize gay marriage, which voters have also approved now in 14 states. Public support for gay marriage, which Americans also overwhelmingly opposed in the past, has increased dramatically, reaching majority support in the last two years....

Independents' growing support for legalization has mostly driven the jump in Americans' overall support.... Yet there is a marked divide between Republicans, who still oppose legalizing marijuana, and Democrats and independents.

  

So what's the hold-up, folks? Will Maryland drag its feet on this social justice issue and wait for other states to lead (again)?

POLL: Majority of Marylanders Support Marijuana Legalization // PLUS: Montgomery Democrats Rally for Minimum Wage Hike

Ahead of the 2014 legislative session, Maryland Juice has been tracking the activities of advocacy groups and activists in the state. It seems clear that there is a lot of organizing happening behind two policy areas: ending the War on Drugs and increasing the minimum wage. Below we provide updates on both issues, including a new poll on marijuana reform and coverage of a press conference yesterday on raising the state's minimum wage.

JUICE #1: STRONG MAJORITY OF MARYLAND VOTERS SUPPORT MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION - This morning, Maryland Juice received the following press release from the ACLU and the Marijuana Policy Project announcing new poll results showing a majority of Maryland voters support taxing and regulating marijuana in the same manner we treat alcohol sales. Meanwhile, a supermajority support removing jail time as a penalty for possession (details below):

PRESS RELEASE

Poll: Majority of Maryland Voters Support Regulating and Taxing Marijuana; Only 38% Opposed

More than two-thirds support removing criminal penalties for marijuana possession and replacing them with a civil fine similar to a parking ticket

Statements below from the ACLU of Maryland and the Marijuana Policy Project

BALTIMORE — A majority of Maryland voters (53%) support making marijuana legal for adults and regulating it like alcohol, according to a survey conducted last weekend by Public Policy Polling. Only 38% said they were opposed.

The poll also found that more than two-thirds (68%) support removing criminal penalties for possession of up to one ounce of marijuana and replacing them with a civil offense punishable by a fine of up to $100 with no possibility of jail time. Only 26% said they were opposed. Under current Maryland law, it is a criminal offense for a person to possess a small amount of marijuana, and he or she can be sentenced to up to 90 days in jail and fined up to $500.

The survey of 678 randomly selected Maryland voters was conducted September 27-29 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8%. The full results are available at http://www.aclu-md.org/press_room/147.

Statement from Rachelle Yeung, legislative analyst for the Marijuana Policy Project:

"Most Maryland voters recognize that marijuana prohibition has failed and believe it is time to adopt a more sensible approach. By regulating marijuana like alcohol we can take marijuana sales out of the underground market and put them behind the counters of legitimate, tax-paying businesses. Marijuana is objectively less harmful than alcohol, and it is time to treat it that way."

Statement from Sara Love, public policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Maryland:

"Our current marijuana prohibition policies are grossly ineffective. It's time to take a commonsense approach to public safety and criminal justice. We should not be wasting resources arresting people simply for possessing marijuana. Enforcement of these misguided marijuana laws is having a disproportionate and detrimental impact on communities of color. A majority of voters agree it is time for a change."

# # #

POLL: Majority of Maryland Voters Support Marijuana Legalization

JUICE #2: MONTGOMERY COUNTY ELECTED OFFICIALS ANNOUNCE SUPPORT FOR MARYLAND MINIMUM WAGE HIKE -Yesterday, advocates supporting a minimum wage hike in Maryland gathered in Takoma Park for a press conference announcing support from a range of elected officials. Speakers at the Raise Maryland event included County Executive Ike Leggett, Sen. Jamie Raskin, Del. Anne Kaiser, and County Councilmembers Marc Elrich and Valerie Ervin. Other attendees included Del. Sheila Hixson, and representatives from CASA, Jews United for Justice, Progressive Maryland, AFSCME and more. Below Maryland Juice provides photos and a press release from, Raise Maryland:

VIEW MD JUICE'S PRESS CONFERENCE PHOTOS

PRESS RELEASE

Montgomery County elected officials pledge to raise Maryland’s minimum wage
Momentum is building for an increase to $10.10 per hour by 2016 for state’s lowest paid workers
Takoma Park, MD – Montgomery County legislators are pledging to pass a bill raising the state’s minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour during the 2014 Maryland General Assembly. On October 1, the Montgomery County Council unanimously passed a resolution supporting raising the rate for the state’s lowest wage workers.

At a press conference in Takoma Park, Del. Anne Kaiser and Sen. Jamie Raskin, co-chairs of the Montgomery County legislative delegation detailed why they believe that it is the right time to increase the minimum wage in Maryland.  Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett and Montgomery County Council members Valerie Ervin and Marc Elrich also spoke at the event.

“Raising the minimum wage is a top priority for the upcoming legislative session. And it’s not enough to just pass any minimum wage increase,” said Sen. Raskin. “We will be advocating for a strong bill that raises the rate to $10.10, indexes the minimum wage to inflation and includes a raise for tipped workers.”

The proposed legislation would raise Maryland’s minimum wage in three steps to $10.10 per hour by 2016 and index it to the cost of living thereafter so that it doesn’t lose value over time. The legislation also incorporates an increase for tipped workers (from 50 percent to 70 percent of the prevailing minimum wage).

“It is time for the General Assembly to act on wages, to raise the standard for all workers,” said Del. Kaiser. “That includes tipped workers – restaurant workers, barbers, nail technicians, car wash employees – everyone who depends on tips as part of their income.”

Momentum is building for Maryland to increase the state’s minimum wage during the upcoming 2014 session of the Maryland General Assembly.  The Baltimore City Council also recently passed a unanimous resolution calling for an increase and each of the Democratic 2014 gubernatorial candidates have announced their support for a raise.

“With passage of this resolution, Montgomery County stands united in support of higher pay for our workers and building our county and state economy,” said County Executive Leggett. “An increase will also stimulate business and spending and we always welcome more business here in Montgomery County.”

The press conference was held at Capital City Cheesecake, a café and bakery in Takoma Park.  Meaghan Murphy, who owns the business with her sister, spoke in support of a wage increase. “Even though it’s a challenge to meet this higher wage, at the end of the day we’re not in business for solely our own benefit,” said Murphy. “We shouldn’t be in business if we can’t provide another dollar or more per hour to our workers.”

Councilman member Elrich, who introduced the measure, also addressed concerns about small business, saying, “We hear from the business lobby that a raise in the minimum wage will hurt business. They say that it’s a job killer and small businesses will be most affected. In fact, across Maryland, 71 percent of all low-wage workers are employed by businesses with more than 50 employees, like big box retailers and fast food restaurants.”

“We talk about understanding the face of poverty, but it faces we see every day in Montgomery County – working families trying to put food on the table, ensure a quality education for their kids and keep up with bill payments,” said Ervin. “With one of the highest standards of living in the state, we are leaving our low wage workers behind.”

A low-wage worker, Wilfred Mokoko, also spoke at the event, detailing the struggles he faces living on the minimum wage.  “At the start, the wages were fair, but as the cost of living has increased, I saw my wages were too low. The Ride On bus fare has increased from $1.20 to $1.80.  To many people these changes do not make a difference, but they matter to me. Some weeks, I spend more than $20 on bus transportation. When you make $7.25 an hour, this really hurts.”

Research has found that approximately 472,000 Marylanders would benefit from the increase, putting $466 million more in their pockets in the next two years. At the same time, businesses would benefit from nearly half a billion dollars in new consumer spending and would create more than 4,000 new full-time jobs as they expand to meet increased demand.

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Raise Maryland is a diverse coalition of community, labor, immigrant, civil rights and faith organizations that seek to pass a statewide minimum wage increase and index it to inflation.

VIDEO: Maryland Juice Blogger David Moon Asks Doug Gansler About Drug War // PLUS: Obama Changes Tune on Marijuana

UPDATE: Maryland Juice must have a good read on where progressive policy is headed, because The Washington Post reported today that the Obama administration will not fight states that have legalized marijuana distribution (excerpt below):

WASHINGTON POST: The Obama administration on Thursday said it will not stand in the way of Colorado, Washington and other states where voters have supported legalizing marijuana either for medical or recreational use, as long as those states maintain strict rules involving distribution of the drug.

In a memo sent Thursday to U.S. attorneys in all 50 states, Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole detailed the administration’s new stance.... The memo directs federal prosecutors to focus their resources on eight specific areas of enforcement, rather than targeting individual marijuana users, which even President Obama has acknowledged is not the best use of federal manpower. Those areas include preventing distribution of marijuana to minors, preventing the sale of pot to cartels and gangs, preventing sales to other states where the drug remains illegal under state law, and stopping the growing of marijuana on public lands....

BACKGROUND: About two weeks ago, Maryland Juice attended a Montgomery County forum with Attorney General Doug Gansler on transportation issues. This was only one day after Gansler had been roundly criticized in the media for implying that Lt. Governor Anthony Brown's campaign was focused on the color of the candidate's skin. But rather than pile-on the follow-up coverage of the remarks, I decided to pursue a more substantive line of questioning for Doug Gansler on race issues in Maryland.

At the August 13th forum with Gansler, I had the perfect opportunity to jump into the conversation, when an audience member started asking Gansler about U.S. DOJ Chief Eric Holder's recent decision to focus on addressing the issue of mass incarceration. Indeed, Holder recently announced a new effort to reform mandatory minimum sentencing rules and use of prosecutorial discretion. Gansler's response to the audience member focused on his newly announced effort to facilitate the re-entry of prisoners into the civilian population, so I decided to ask a follow-up question.

THE PERILS OF SMOKING WHILE BLACK IN MARYLAND - It seemed to me that Gansler's focus on re-entry issues was only 1/4 of a response to the problem of mass incarceration, as re-entry deals with people leaving prison, without addressing whether these non-violent offenders should be incarcerated in the first place.  I've been noting for months that it is impossible to tackle America's lust for imprisoning the poor and people of color without addressing our decades-long failed "War on Drugs" policy advanced through Presidents ranging from Nixon, Reagan, Bush, Clinton and now Obama. Though Democratic policymakers around the nation have begun aggressively attacking this problem at its roots, Maryland Democrats have ordinarily dragged their feet on such issues.  The result is a cost of nearly $200 million a year to prosecute marijuana crimes in Maryland, and the U.S. now has the world's largest prison population -- despite having a much smaller population than say, China. Even worse, the ACLU recently reported that black residents of Maryland are over 3 times more likely than white residents to be busted for pot crimes -- despite equal rates of use between the races.

Below you can watch an exclusive video of Doug Gansler's response to a problem that the ACLU has dubbed "Smoking While Black." In the comments below, Gansler states: "It's a real issue and the whole marijuana issue has been dealt with I think appropriately, differently in many states. Where we go with that here, I think we're actually taking a very good approach to it in my own personal view. But the racial component is something that should always be of concern... We have to have a full understanding that it's disproportionately affecting minority communities."



Let's see if Attorney General Doug Gansler (and other gubernatorial candidates) will walk the talk when the issue emerges again in the next legislative session.

POLITICS OF RACE: Gansler Belittles Brown Campaign As Only About Skin Color // PLUS: A Challenger to Del. Brian Feldman

The issue of race is percolating among voters in deep-Blue Maryland, as the coming election cycle is revealing long-simmering tensions over diversity in the state's Democratic Party. Below Maryland Juice notes a few emerging storylines of interest to politicos, starting with a wild case of foot-in-mouth disease from Attorney General Doug Gansler:

JUICE #1: DOUG GANSLER CAUGHT DISPARAGING ANTHONY BROWN'S CAMPAIGN, SAYING THE LT. GOVERNOR IS RELYING ON HIS RACE TO WIN - Within the span of a couple minutes, several Maryland Juice readers forwarded us a wild new article from The Washington Post's John Wagner highlighting candid thoughts from Attorney General Doug Gansler about Lt. Governor Anthony Brown. In the commentary below, Gansler belittles the campaign of Brown, claiming Maryland's black Lieutenant Governor is relying on his race to win the Governor's mansion (excerpt below):

WASHINGTON POST: Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler told a group of campaign volunteers last month that Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown, his chief Democratic rival for governor, has a thin record of accomplishment and is trying to rely on his race to get elected next year. "I mean, right now his campaign slogan is, 'Vote for me, I want to be the first African American governor of Maryland,'" Gansler (D) told the group....

An audio recording of the July 15 meeting -- in which Gansler also spoke candidly about his campaign strategy -- was provided to The Washington Post by someone not employed by either campaign.... The recording is yet another example of a political figure having to explain remarks that he did not expect to be made public. In the 2012 presidential race, GOP nominee Mitt Romney had to defend his "47 percent" comments, which critics said disparaged nearly half the electorate....

Although Brown did not comment directly on Gansler's remarks, his running mate, Ken Ulman, said they crossed the line.... "Frankly, the voters deserve a little more respect from Doug...."

One source (who is not affiliated with any gubernatorial campaign) provided harsh reaction to Gansler's remarks about race, noting "This sounds like  a serious dick move by Gansler. This is very bad for Gansler. Basically accusing Anthony Brown of being black." But Maryland Juice writer Dan Furmansky had perhaps more measured thoughts about the Gansler campaign:

DAN FURMANSKY: Well, folks. I dare say the fan has been hit. The Post reports that "the salvos mark the first real tumult in a contest that had been relatively quiet and could show how race is likely to play an important role."

Indeed, there are cringe-worthy statements here.

What's remarkable to me in addition to the content of the remarks is that they may be an omen for Mr. Gansler's campaign if he doesn't adopt a more disciplined approach to what comes out of his mouth from here through next June. Indeed, more than one political insider wagered to me months ago that Mr. Gansler would end up self-destructing simply through his lack of a filter. A spokesperson for Anthony Brown's campaign called Gansler’s remarks “out of touch with Maryland values.” Indeed, they are certainly out of touch with a number of Democratic primary voters' values. Most voters--African American, Latina, gay, Asian, Muslim, disabled--want a governor whose tone projects inclusivity ... a feeling that they consider your community to be their community too.

Is this incident a nail in Mr. Gansler's coffin? Doubtful. He may be right in his assessment not to announce his candidacy until September that too few voters are paying attention at this point anyway. There is much time to for him to define himself between now and June, especially with a war chest that will enable robust air time. But this is, hopefully, a wake-up call--not to his campaign, but to Mr. Gansler himself. At this point in the game, every word, every where, and to every one, matters.

JUICE #2: DEL. BRIAN FELDMAN HAS A CHALLENGER FOR SENATE // MOCO MINORITIES SUGGEST CARETAKER APPOINTMENT FOR GARAGIOLA VACANCY - In another race-tinged storyline, The Washington Post's Bill Turque reported this weekend that Delegate Brian Feldman will face a challenger in his quest to be appointed to State Senator Rob Garagiola's District 15 vacancy. The Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee will soon name a temporary replacement for Garagiola, and minorities in Montgomery County have been clamoring to see the first-ever non-white State Senator represent the rapidly diversifying region. But the same group of minority activists had not been able to point to a potential candidate for the D15 vacancy -- until just a few days ago. The Washington Post is now reporting that Bilal Ayyub, a University of Maryland professor, is stepping forward for the appointment to serve as a caretaker and not run for office in 2014 (excerpt below):

WASHINGTON POST: For all of its much-celebrated progressive tradition, Montgomery County has never sent a candidate of color to the state Senate.... Instead, the process of filling western Montgomery’s District 15 seat has exposed long-simmering tensions in a county transformed by rapid demographic change.... The county’s Democratic Central Committee has scheduled a Sept. 10 vote on a recommendation to Gov. Martin O’Malley (D), who will make the appointment....

What especially vexed minorities was an announcement by the District 15 Democratic Caucus — the core group of active Democrats in that area — that it had endorsed [Del. Brian] Feldman. In fact, only the caucus’s executive committee had agreed to support Feldman.... [Latino, Asian, African American and Arab American community representatives] plan to press the central committee to bypass Feldman and name a “caretaker” who would not run for Garagiola’s seat next year....

[CASA in Action's] Gustavo Torres said the group had asked Bilal Ayyub, a University of Maryland engineering professor and a member of the Governor’s Commission on Middle Eastern Affairs, to submit his name to the central committee for consideration as the caretaker. Ayyub, 55, a District 15 resident born on the then-Jordanian West Bank, declined to comment Friday....

JUICE #3: BLACK MOCO RESIDENTS OVER 3X MORE LIKELY THAN WHITES TO BE BUSTED FOR MARIJUANA POSSESSION // DISPARITY EVEN WORSE IN BALTIMORE - Speaking of race, The ACLU recently released a damning new report showing that black residents in Maryland are 3 times more likely than white residents to be arrested for marijuana possession, despite equal rates of use between the races. But the local breakdowns for the statistics are fascinating, as the ACLU notes that black residents of liberal Montgomery County are 3.2 times more likely than white residents to be busted by cops for pot. That racial disparity is most pronounced in the city of Baltimore, where black residents are 5.6 times more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana possession.

All of these expressions of feelings about pot by our government are very expensive -- both in terms of raw tax dollars and in terms of police resource allocation -- and they are about as effective as abstinence-only education is at halting teen pregnancy. The ACLU report notes, for example, that Maryland spent over $106 million enforcing marijuana possession laws in 2010, and that these pot busts represented 50% of our police officers' drug enforcement activities. That sure seems like a good use of our finite public safety resources (*eye-roll*). As many of us have been pointing out for awhile, it is impossible to separate America's mass incarceration regime from the failed so-called "War on Drugs," which has ravaged communities of color, cost billions of tax dollars, and has been an utter failure at reducing drug use.

But many Maryland politicians continue to pay lip-service to these pressing social and economic justice issues, while ignoring the inertia of policies that lead to mass incarceration and racial disparities in law enforcement. In fact, five years ago The New York Times warned of the consequences of our government's draconian worldview (excerpt below):

NEW YORK TIMES: The United States has less than 5 percent of the world's population. But it has almost a quarter of the world's prisoners.

Indeed, the United States leads the world in producing prisoners, a reflection of a relatively recent and now entirely distinctive American approach to crime and punishment. Americans are locked up for crimes — from writing bad checks to using drugs — that would rarely produce prison sentences in other countries. And in particular they are kept incarcerated far longer than prisoners in other nations.

Criminologists and legal scholars in other industrialized nations say they are mystified and appalled by the number and length of American prison sentences. The United States has, for instance, 2.3 million criminals behind bars, more than any other nation.... China, which is four times more populous than the United States, is a distant second, with 1.6 million people in prison....

ERIC HOLDER & DR. SANJAY GUPTA CHANGE MINDS ON WEED: You would think that in well-educated, liberal, diverse Montgomery County policy considerations such as these would prevail over emotional and irrational fears. But you would be wrong. And at the state level, reform efforts stall year after year without any clear political constituency favoring incarceration for simple pot possession. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta recently published a lengthy piece explaining why he has now changed his mind on marijuana after apparently deciding to, you know, look at evidence:

DR. SANJAY GUPTA (VIA CNN): Long before I began this project, I had steadily reviewed the scientific literature on medical marijuana from the United States and thought it was fairly unimpressive. Reading these papers five years ago, it was hard to make a case for medicinal marijuana. I even wrote about this in a TIME magazine article, back in 2009, titled "Why I would Vote No on Pot." Well, I am here to apologize.

I apologize because I didn't look hard enough, until now. I didn't look far enough.... I mistakenly believed the Drug Enforcement Agency listed marijuana as a schedule 1 substance because of sound scientific proof. Surely, they must have quality reasoning as to why marijuana is in the category of the most dangerous drugs that have "no accepted medicinal use and a high potential for abuse."

They didn't have the science to support that claim, and I now know that when it comes to marijuana neither of those things are true. It doesn't have a high potential for abuse, and there are very legitimate medical applications. In fact, sometimes marijuana is the only thing that works.... We have been terribly and systematically misled for nearly 70 years in the United States, and I apologize for my own role in that.

On August 14, 1970, the Assistant Secretary of Health, Dr. Roger O. Egeberg wrote a letter recommending the plant, marijuana, be classified as a schedule 1 substance, and it has remained that way for nearly 45 years.... Not because of sound science, but because of its absence, marijuana was classified as a schedule 1 substance. Again, the year was 1970.

Even U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder (who is not trailblazer on ending the failed "War on Drugs") is beginning to see the writing on the wall. Yesterday he announced a new effort to tackle the issue of mass incarceration, and the American public didn't even blink. As Maryland Juice has pointed out for many months now, the polling data on Americans and marijuana appears to have crossed a major threshold in public opinion, Reason.com noted yesterday that the powers that be are beginning to finally acknowledge the shift (excerpt below):

REASON.COM: As Attorney General Eric Holder calls for major changes to federal drug sentencing reform today, in effect sidestepping mandatory minimum sentences for some drug offenses to reduce the number of non-violent offenders sentenced to incarceration, the Obama administration is likely to find support from the American public. The most recent Reason-Rupe poll of 1,003 Americans on cell phones and landlines found that just 6 percent of Americans say people found with marijuana should go to jail. In contrast, 35 percent say people smoking or in possession of marijuana should not be punished at all; 32 percent say they should be fined; and 20 percent favor rehabilitation and counseling.

Check out a summary of the ACLU's research on Maryland below:

ACLU Stats on Racial Disparities in Maryland's Marijuana Arrest Rates

O'Malley to Name Mary Ellen Barbera Chief Judge of Maryland's Highest Court // PLUS: Her Views on Warrantless DNA Searches

JUDGE MARY ELLEN BARBERA TO BECOME CHIEF JUDGE IN MARYLAND - A knowledgeable source indicates that Governor Martin O'Malley has selected Judge Mary Ellen Barbera to replace Robert Bell as the Chief Judge of the Maryland Court of Appeals (our highest court). The change in leadership results from Bell having hit a mandatory retirement age. Judge Barbera currently sits on the Court of Appeals, so this is essentially a promotion from within. Barbera was first appointed in 2008 and appears to come from a law enforcement/prosecutor's mindset, having previously worked in the Attorney General's office representing the state against those appealing convictions. Her bio also indicates a past focus on public safety and victims' rights. The Baltimore Sun's Erin Cox confirmed the news this morning, focusing on the fact that Barbera will be the first woman to helm the Court of Appeals (excerpt below):

BALTIMORE SUN: Maryland achieved several milestones Tuesday as Gov. Martin O'Malley named the first woman to lead what will be the first female majority on the state's top court.... Bell is required by law to retire from the Court of Appeals when he turns 70 on Saturday.

O'Malley elevated Court of Appeals Judge Mary Ellen Barbera to be chief — the highest-ranking judge in Maryland — and he appointed Court of Special Appeals Judge Shirley M. Watts to take the seat of retiring Chief Judge Robert M. Bell.... Watts, 54, was appointed to the Court of Special Appeals in 2011, following nine years as a Baltimore City Circuit Court judge and stints as an assistant state's attorney and federal public defender.

JUDGE BARBERA'S DEFENSE OF WARRANTLESS DNA SEARCHES - Maryland Juice admits to not knowing much about Barbera's legal philosophy, though a simple Google search turns up some commentary from her defending Maryland's recent controversial law allowing police to gather and warehouse DNA samples from those arrested for certain crimes. The Supreme Court's recent 5-4 ruling upholding the controversial law leaves the door open for collection of DNA from suspects whether or not they are actually convicted. Those caught in the DNA dragnet could later have their genetic material searched by the police for completely unrelated crimes, potentially allowing cops to engage in DNA fishing expeditions -- without a search warrant or articulable suspicion.

The Public Defenders office criticized the law, and a 5-2 majority of the Maryland Court of Appeals thought Maryland lawmakers went too far. But Barbera was one of the two dissenting Judges who thought that allowing police to collect and warehouse the DNA of crime suspects for future use was a kosher practice. The Daily Record's Steven Lash wrote about the battle of legal opinions between Judge Glenn Harrell who wrote the majority opinion ruling DNA dragnets illegal, and Barbera, who defended the practice (excerpt below):

DAILY RECORD:  “We simply will not allow warrantless, suspicionless searches of biological materials without a showing that accurate identification was not possible using ‘traditional’ methods,” [Judge Glenn] Harrell added....

Other courts that have considered the issue have reached different conclusions — as did Judge Mary Ellen Barbera, who dissented from the King decision, saying arrestees have a “significantly diminished expectation of privacy” with regard to police taking a DNA sample from them....

As The Huffington Post noted, the Supreme Court recently upheld Maryland's DNA dragnets, but Attorney General Doug Gansler (who pushed for the law) admitted it could lead to a slippery slope (excerpt below):

HUFFINGTON POST: Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler agreed that there's nothing stopping his state from expanding DNA collection from those arrested for serious crimes to those arrested for lesser ones like shoplifting....

Barbera gets to head the Court of Appeals for nine years. Here's to hoping she brings more balance on due process, criminal justice and civil liberties issues than her views on DNA dragnets would suggest!