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*hb0821*
HOUSE BILL 821
D1 CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT 6lr2509
CF SB 541
By: Chair, Judiciary Committee (By Request – Maryland Judicial Conference)
Introduced and read first time: February 4, 2026
Assigned to: Judiciary
Committee Report: Favorable
House action: Adopted
Read second time: February 22, 2026
CHAPTER ______
AN ACT concerning 1
Judiciary Department – Judicial Removal – Disqualification From Future 2
Judicial Office 3
FOR the purpose of providing that a justice or judge removed or retired from office on 4
recommendation of the Commission on Judicial Disabilities is not eligible for future 5
judicial office. 6
BY proposing an amendment to the Maryland Constitution 7
Article IV – Judiciary Department 8
Section 4B 9
SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, 10
(Three–fifths of all the members elected to each of the two Houses concurring), That it be 11
proposed that the Maryland Constitution read as follows: 12
Article IV – Judiciary Department 13
4B. 14
(a) (1) The Commission on Judicial Disabilities has the power to: 15
(i) Investigate complaints against any justice or judge of the 16
Supreme Court of Maryland, any intermediate courts of appeal, the cir cuit courts, the 17
District Court of Maryland, or the orphans’ court; and 18
2 HOUSE BILL 821
(ii) Conduct hearings concerning such complaints, administer oaths 1
and affirmations, issue process to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production 2
of evidence, and require persons to testify and produce evidence by granting them immunity 3
from prosecution or from penalty or forfeiture. 4
(2) The Commission has the power to issue a reprimand and the power to 5
recommend to the Supreme Court of Maryland the removal, censure, or other appropriate 6
disciplining of a justice or judge or, in an appropriate case, retirement. 7
(3) All proceedings, testimony, and evidence before the Commission shall 8
be confidential and privileged, except as provided by rule of the Supreme Court of 9
Maryland; the record and any proceeding filed with the Supreme Court of Maryland shall 10
lose its confidential character, except as ordered by the Supreme Court of Maryland. 11
(4) No justice or judge shall participate as a member of the Commission in 12
any proceedings involving that justice’s or judge’s own conduct, and the Governor shall 13
appoint another justice or judge as a substitute member of the Commission for those 14
proceedings. 15
(5) The Supreme Court of Maryland shall prescribe by rule the means to 16
implement and enforce the powers of the Commission and the practice and procedure before 17
the Commission. 18
(b) (1) Upon any recommendation of the Commission, the Supreme Court of 19
Maryland, after a hearing and upon a finding of misconduct while in office, or of persistent 20
failure to perform the duties of the office, or of conduct prejudicial to the proper 21
administration of justice, may remove the justice or judge from office or may censure or 22
otherwise discipline the justice or judge, or the Supreme Court of Maryl and, after hearing 23
and upon a finding of disability which is or is likely to become permanent and which 24
seriously interferes with the performance of the justice’s or judge’s duties, may retire the 25
justice or judge from office. 26
(2) A justice or judge rem oved under this section, and the justice’s or 27
judge’s surviving spouse, shall have the rights and privileges accruing from the justice’s or 28
judge’s judicial service only to the extent prescribed by the order of removal. 29
(3) A justice or judge retired un der this section shall have the rights and 30
privileges prescribed by law for other retired justices or judges. 31
(4) A JUSTICE OR JUDGE REM OVED OR RETIRED UNDE R THIS 32
SECTION IS NOT ELIGIBLE FOR FUTURE JUDICIAL OFFICE. 33
(5) No justice of the Supreme Court of Maryland shall sit in judgment in 34
any hearing involving that justice’s own conduct. 35
HOUSE BILL 821 3
(c) This section is alternative to, and cumulative with, the methods of retirement 1
and removal provided in Sections 3 and 4 of this Article, and in Section 26 of Arti cle III of 2
this Constitution. 3
SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That the General Assembly 4
determines that the amendment to the Maryland Constitution proposed by Section 1 of this 5
Act affects multiple jurisdictions and that the provisions of Article XIV, § 1 of the Maryland 6
Constitution concerning local approval of constitutional amendments do not apply. 7
SECTION 3. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That the amendment to the 8
Maryland Constitution proposed by Section 1 of this Act shall be submitted to the qualified 9
voters of the State at the next general election to be held in November 2026 for adoption or 10
rejection in accordance with Article XIV of the Maryland Constitution. At that general 11
election, the vote on the proposed amendment to the Constitution shall be by ballot, and on 12
each ballot there shall be printed the words “For the Constitutional Amendment” and 13
“Against the Constitutional Amendment”, as now provided by law. Immediately after the 14
election, all returns shall be made to the Governor of the vote for and against the proposed 15
amendment, as directed by Article XIV of the Maryland Constitution, and further 16
proceedings held in accordance with Article XIV. 17
Approved:
________________________________________________________________________________
Governor.
________________________________________________________________________________
Speaker of the House of Delegates.
________________________________________________________________________________
President of the Senate.