MARYLAND JUDICIARY | SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON JUDICIAL COMPENSATION
oversight of other court locations within their judicial geographical circuits to coordinate inter- court transfer of matters. Essentially, the Administrative Judges are on-call 24/7.
The Court of Special Appeals
The Court of Special Appeals is the intermediate appellate court in Maryland, located in Annapolis. The Court was created in 1966 in response to the rapidly growing caseload in the Court of Appeals. Originally, the Court of Special Appeals could hear appeals only in criminal cases. In 1974, its jurisdiction was expanded to include any reviewable judgment in the Circuit Courts. Today, the Court of Special Appeals resolves over 2,100 appeals per year. The Court consists of 15 judges — one from each of the seven geographically determined appellate judicial circuits and eight “at large” judges who can reside anywhere in the state. In most cases, the Court hears and decides cases in panels of three.
The Court of Appeals
The Court of Appeals is the highest court in Maryland (what most states would call their “Supreme Court”), also located in Annapolis. Since the expansion of the Court of Special Appeals’ jurisdiction in 1974, the Court of Appeals has heard cases on an almost exclusively discretionary basis. Parties can file a “petition for writ of certiorari” in any case pending in or decided by the Court of Special Appeals. The Court of Appeals then reviews the petition and determines whether further review of the case is desirable or in the public interest. This includes cases that raise constitutional issues, unsettled questions of law, and issues related to emerging technologies. If the case meets this standard for further review, the Court grants the petition and allows the parties to argue their case. With few exceptions, decisions of the Court of Appeals are final and cannot be appealed to another court. The Court of Appeals is composed of seven judges — one from each of the seven appellate judicial circuits —all of whom sit on each case. Currently, the Court’s seven members include three female judges and two African-American judges, making it one of the most diverse panels on a state supreme court in the country. This year marks the eighth consecutive term in which all of the Court’s opinions were released in the same term (year) in which they were heard.
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