Anne Arundel Circuit Court race is a test of how Maryland picks judges

An Anne Arundel County Circuit Court judge who was previously rejected by voters is back on the ballot in a test of Maryland’s process for picking judges.

Gov. Wes Moore appointed Ginina Jackson-Stevenson to the bench in 2023. When she lost her contested election in 2024, Moore appointed her again. Now she is once again asking voters to affirm that decision.

Jackson-Stevenson and Sidney Butcher, both sitting circuit court judges, are taking on two challengers, Rowena Nelson and Elizabeth Adams, for election to a 15-year term.

Both Butcher and Jackson-Stevenson previously held positions as judicial officers, with Butcher spending six years on the bench as a district court judge and Jackson-Stevenson serving as a family law magistrate. Jackson-Stevenson was the first African-American woman to serve as a magistrate in Anne Arundel County.

“Now I’m even more qualified than I was the last time,” Jackson-Stevenson said, because she has served an additional year and a half as a circuit judge since the last election cycle.

Nelson and Adams are asking voters to set aside the vetting process that went into selecting the sitting judges and choose challengers instead.

“I have the qualifications, but most importantly, I do not come with the institutionalized mindset,” Nelson said in an interview.

Circuit court judges are the only group of judges in Maryland who can face contested elections after being appointed to their post by the governor. Circuit courts typically handle the most serious criminal and civil cases.

The races are nonpartisan, but Democrats and Republicans separately will choose two nominees. Any member of the Maryland bar can run if they meet the constitutional requirements: At least 30 years old, a state resident for at least five years, and living in the county where they are running for at least six months.

Jackson-Stevenson said the vetting process that sitting judges go through before being appointed is strenuous and designed to evaluate “the intangibles,” like temperament and reputation, in the legal community.

“Most people coming to court, it’s the worst day of their lives,” Jackson-Stevenson said. “Are you going to be able to get fairness and justice and impartiality when you walk through the door?”

A former solo practitioner and public defender, Jackson-Stevenson said that community members have encouraged her to run for judge in the past, rather than go through the lengthy appointment process. But she decided to stay the course and go through a judicial nominating commission, which screens candidates before sending recommendations to the governor when there is a vacancy.

Candidates are interviewed by as many as a dozen bar associations, including specialty bars representing groups like Hispanic and LGBTQIA+ attorneys. They are also interviewed by the local judicial nominating commission, a panel of 13 people, and vetted by the governor’s office before being appointed.

Morgan Drayton, a policy and engagement manager with Common Cause Maryland, said the vetting process does the research and screening for the voters. Especially in a downballot race, where voters sometimes pick names at random because they don’t know the candidates, that process can be especially important.

“Your average voter isn’t super well-informed politically when it comes to even a sitting state senator or delegate, even less so when it comes to who is sitting on the bench,” Drayton said.

Judges make life-changing decisions for members of the community, so it’s especially important that they be well-prepared for the role, she said.

Butcher, who is also an incumbent, said it can be especially difficult for voters because ballots do not distinguish between sitting judges who have been vetted and challenger candidates who have not.

“We have shown to the judicial nominating commission and various governors and their staff that we have the right stuff to represent our community on the circuit court,” Butcher said.

In 2018, then-Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, appointed Butcher to serve as a district court judge. Moore, a Democrat, elevated Butcher to the circuit court in December.

Before he became a judge, Butcher worked in the Medicaid Fraud Unit of the Maryland attorney general’s office. He also worked in private practice following a decade as a prosecutor in the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office.

Adams, one of the challengers, was not available for an interview for this story. She has previously asked the local judicial nominating commission to recommend her for a judgeship, but was not selected. She made her entire application to the commission publicly available on her campaign website.

Adams has spent more than a decade representing state and local governments, including at the Howard County Office of Law and Prince George’s County Office of Law. She also served as an assistant attorney general in the Maryland attorney general’s office.

Nelson, the other challenger, has led her own law practice for over 15 years, and previously served as the director of victim services at the Maryland Crime Victims Resource Center. Nelson said her experience running her law firm taught her to handle a wide array of responsibilities.

“You can be vetted, but you still have to run,” Nelson said of the judicial selection process. “You still have to go through the residents of the county, wherever you’re running.”

Madeleine O’Neill is a freelance reporter in Baltimore.