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Mary Ellen Barbera
Mary Ellen Barbera was a judge for the 7th Appellate Circuit of the Appellate Court of Maryland. She assumed office on July 8, 2013. She left office on September 10, 2021.
Barbera ran for re-election for the 7th Appellate Circuit judge of the Appellate Court of Maryland. She won in the retention election on November 3, 2020.
Barbera became a member of the court through gubernatorial appointment. She was appointed to the court on August 7, 2008, by Governor Martin O'Malley (D), took office on September 2, 2008, and was appointed to the position of chief judge in 2013 by O'Malley.[1][2][3] To read more about judicial selection in Maryland, click here.
The court's name changed from the Maryland Court of Appeals to the Maryland Supreme Court, following a ballot initiative that voters approved in November 2022.[4]
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country. As part of this study, we assigned each justice a Confidence Score describing our confidence in the degree of partisanship exhibited by the justices' past partisan behavior, before they joined the court.[5] Barbera received a confidence score of Mild Democrat.[6] Click here to read more about this study.
Barbera retired on September 10, 2021, after reaching Maryland's mandatory retirement age. To learn more about this vacancy, click here.
Biography
Judge Barbera was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1951. She received her undergraduate degree in early childhood education from Towson University in 1975 and her J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law in 1984. Barbera began her legal career as a law clerk for Judge Robert L. Karwacki who served on the Maryland Court of Special Appeals in 1984, and in 1985, she became Assistant Attorney General. From 1989 to 1998, she worked for the Office of the Attorney General as the deputy chief of the Criminal Appeals Division. Barbera then served as legal counsel to the Office of the Governor from 1998 until her appointment to the Court of Special Appeals.
From 2002 to 2008, Barbera served as a judge on the Maryland Court of Special Appeals. She was appointed to the Maryland Court of Appeals, later renamed the Maryland Supreme Court, on August 7, 2008, by Governor Martin O'Malley (D) and took office on September 2, 2008. In July 2013, Governor O'Malley appointed Barbera to the position of chief judge. She succeeded Chief Judge Robert M. Bell, who retired.[1][7] On September 10, 2021, Barbera retired from the court.[8]
Elections
2020
Maryland Court of Appeals 7th Appellate Circuit (Historical)
Mary Ellen Barbera was retained to the 7th Appellate Circuit of the Appellate Court of Maryland on November 3, 2020 with 90.3% of the vote.
Retention Vote |
% |
Votes |
|||
| ✔ | Yes |
90.3
|
401,403 | ||
No |
9.7
|
43,344 | |||
Total Votes |
444,747 | ||||
|
|
2010
- Main article: Maryland judicial elections, 2010
Barbera was retained on November 2, 2010 with 86.95% of the vote.[9][10]
Analysis
Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)
Last updated: June 15, 2020
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.
The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on an ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. The scores were based on seven factors, including but not limited to party registration.[11]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[12]
- Mild Republican
- Strong Republican
This justice's Confidence Score, as well as the factors contributing to that score, is presented below. The information below was current as of June 2020.
Mary Ellen
Barbera
Maryland
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Mild Democrat - Judicial Selection Method:
Assisted appointment through governor controlled judicial nominating commission - Key Factors:
- Held political office as a Democrat
- Donated less than $2,000 to Democratic candidates
- Appointed by a Democratic governor
Partisan Profile
Details:
Barbera served as Legal Counsel to Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D). She donated $831 to Democratic candidates and organizations. She was appointed by Gov. O'Malley (D). At the time of her appointment, Maryland was a Democratic trifecta.
Other Scores:
In a 2012 study of campaign contributions, Barbera received a campaign finance score of -0.72, indicating a liberal ideological leaning.
Bonica and Woodruff campaign finance scores (2012)
In October 2012, political science professors Adam Bonica and Michael Woodruff of Stanford University attempted to determine the partisan ideology of state supreme court justices. They created a scoring system in which a score above 0 indicated a more conservative-leaning ideology, while scores below 0 were more liberal.
Barbera received a campaign finance score of -0.72, indicating a liberal ideological leaning. This was more liberal than the average score of -0.44 that justices received in Maryland.
The study was based on data from campaign contributions by the judges themselves, the partisan leaning of those who contributed to the judges' campaigns, or, in the absence of elections, the ideology of the appointing body (governor or legislature). This study was not a definitive label of a justice, but an academic summary of various relevant factors.[13]
Noteworthy cases
Noteworthy cases may be selected due to their impact on legal precedent, substantial media attention, or overlaps with another area of editorial interest at Ballotpedia. To suggest cases we should cover here, email us.
State supreme court judicial selection in Maryland
- See also: Judicial selection in Maryland
The seven judges of the Maryland Supreme Court are selected through the assisted appointment method. The Maryland Judicial Nominating Commission is responsible for screening candidates and submitting a shortlist to the governor. This commission consists of 17 members appointed by the governor and the Maryland State Bar Association. The governor must appoint a judge from the commission's shortlist and the appointee must then be confirmed by the Maryland State Senate.[14][15]
After serving for one year, judges must stand for retention in the next general election if they wish to remain on the court. If retained, a judge wins a full ten-year term.[14]
The court's name changed from the Maryland Court of Appeals to the Maryland Supreme Court, following a ballot initiative that voters approved in November 2022.[4]
Qualifications
To serve on this court, a judge must be:
- a U.S. and state citizen;
- a registered state voter;
- a state resident for at least five years;
- a resident of the geographic area where the vacancy exists for at least six months;
- a state bar member;
- at least 30 years old; and
- under the age of 70 (retirement at 70 is mandatory).[14]
Chief justice
The chief justice of the court is designated by the governor to serve indefinite terms.[14]
Vacancies
If a midterm vacancy occurs on the court, the seat is filled as it normally would be if the vacancy occurred at the end of a judge's term. A judicial nominating commission recommends qualified candidates to the governor and the governor selects a successor from that list. The new appointee serves for at least one year and then stands for retention at the next general election.[14]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Maryland Manual On-Line, "Mary Ellen Barbera," accessed August 9, 2016
- ↑ Maryland Court of Special Appeals, "Maryland Judicial Appointments by Governor since 1990", accessed July 13, 2021
- ↑ The Daily Record, "O’Malley appoints Barbera as chief judge of Court of Appeals," July 3, 2013
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 CBS Baltimore, "The Court of Appeals of Maryland is now the Supreme Court of Maryland," December 14, 2022
- ↑ We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.
- ↑ The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.
- ↑ The Daily Record, "O’Malley appoints Barbera as chief judge of Court of Appeals," July 3, 2013
- ↑ The Office of Governor Larry Hogan, "Governor Hogan Announces Judicial Appointments," September 3, 2021
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedelection - ↑ Maryland Unofficial General Election Results: Court of Appeals
- ↑ The seven factors were party registration, donations made to partisan candidates, donations made to political parties, donations received from political parties or bodies with clear political affiliation, participation in political campaigns, the partisanship of the body responsible for appointing the justice, and state trifecta status when the justice joined the court.
- ↑ An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.
- ↑ Stanford University, "State Supreme Court Ideology and 'New Style' Judicial Campaigns," October 31, 2012
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 National Center for State Courts, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Maryland," accessed August 16, 2021
- ↑ Maryland Manual Online, APPELLATE COURTS JUDICIAL NOMINATING COMMISSION," February 28, 2020
Federal courts:
Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of Maryland • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of Maryland
State courts:
Maryland Supreme Court • Appellate Court of Maryland • Maryland District Courts • Maryland Circuit Courts • Maryland Orphans' Court
State resources:
Courts in Maryland • Maryland judicial elections • Judicial selection in Maryland