Senate confirms three judges to Md. appellate courts

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ANNAPOLIS – With no dissenting votes, the Senate on Friday confirmed Gov. Larry Hogan‘s three nominees for Maryland’s top and intermediate appellate courts.

Easton lawyer Brynja McDivitt Booth will take a seat on the Court of Appeals and Calvert County Circuit Judge E. Gregory Wells and Bethesda attorney Steven B. Gould will join the intermediate Court of Special Appeals. Their dates of investiture remain to be determined.

“I am pleased that Governor Hogan has made appointments to fill the vacancies on both appellate courts,” Court of Appeals Chief Judge Mary Ellen Barbera said in a statement Friday. “I know that my colleagues on the Court of Appeals join me in welcoming Judge-Designate Booth and we all look forward to working with the newest member of the court.”

Booth will succeed Sally D. Adkins on the high court.

During her confirmation hearing on Monday, Booth told the Senate Executive Nominations Committee of her vast experience as an appellate lawyer and her “passion for research and writing” as qualities that would serve her well on Maryland’s top court. She told the committee she looked forward to “the collaborative process of the appellate bench.”

Wells, who will succeed Deborah S. Eyler on the Court of Special Appeals, told the Senate panel that, on the appellate court, he would continue his practice as a trial

judge of taking “the time to write opinions to guide the litigants and attorneys.”

Gould, who will succeed Patrick L. Woodward on the state’s second-highest court, said being a Court of Special Appeals judge was an “immense responsibility” that he had the “humility” to discharge.

Hogan, in making the three appointments, said this month that he was confident Booth, Wells and Gould would be “strong advocates for the law and will serve the citizens of their respective jurisdictions and the State of Maryland admirably.”