I trembled as I left a voice message with Nathan Lewin early this morning. It’s not every day that I’m contacting one of the country’s leading constitutional lawyers. He testified in support of my bill regarding religious divorce (a “get”) several years ago. Today I wanted to talk to him about legislation resulting from the …more >
I had the opening night jitters. Today was my first bill hearing of the session. House Bill 128 would make it a crime to intimidate or harass a witness before a committee in Annapolis. It’s already a crime to do that with a witness in a judicial setting. That’s the point I made in my …more >
51 years ago tonight, I was about to go out to dinner with my grandmother. I was a first-year law student, and Grandma was setting sail from New York harbor the next day. As Grandma got dressed, I was watching Walter Cronkite. LBJ had died and Roe v. Wade had been decided. At her 60th …more >
You go to the hospital to get health care. You go to school to get an education. You go to the library to get a book. In each instance, there are outside factors that affect how you benefit benefit from the service provided. Preventive care will keep you out of the emergency room. And delay …more >
Solving neighborhood problems is an essential part of my job. I try to keep informed by going to two meetings of every neighborhood association – one before the session in the fall and one after the session in the spring. Today my 41st District colleagues and I invited all of the neighborhood presidents to a …more >
Speaker Adrienne Jones again asked me to offer the opening prayer on the opening day of the legislative session. This is what I said. Whether this is your first Opening Day or your 42nd, it is a special occasion. To enter this State House, we walk past the statues of Thurgood Marshall; of two school …more >
Is what a local government has done in a similar situation a good model for what I’m trying to do with state property? Without notice to the public beforehand, the local office for the Department of Human Resources has been closed in my district. How can I prevent this from happening again? If Baltimore City …more >
“It seems underhanded. It doesn’t seem like the way we should conduct our politics.” “It” was the Ohio referendum this past week on whether a 60% majority should be required for a constitutional amendment. The real reason for the ballot issue: to make it harder to enact an amendment protecting abortion rights. The Ohio voter …more >
Our syllabus is due tomorrow. Senator Shelly Hettleman and I co-teach the Legislation classes at the University of Baltimore and University of Maryland law schools. We teach for four hours each week in the fall semester. I can’t imagine the preparation that a full-time K-12 teacher must make for a week of classes. What do …more >
THREE BIG ACCOMPLISHMENTS We have just concluded one of the most productive legislative sessions of my career. We protected a woman’s right to make her own reproductive health care decisions, took important steps to preserve Pimlico Race Track for the Preakness and neighborhood redevelopment, encouraged public service, and made progress on several neighborhood issues. These …more >
