Maryland, My Maryland

WaPoo, Maryland’s high court removes Pr. George’s judge for ‘egregious’ misconduct

The Maryland Supreme Court removed Judge April T. Ademiluyi from the Prince George’s County bench this week, citing “egregious” behavior in violation of the state’s code of judicial conduct, an extreme and rare move for the state’s high court.

The specifics of the alleged misconduct are unclear because the high court did not include an explanatory opinion with its brief ruling. The court broadly cited at least a dozen codes Ademiluyi allegedly violated as a Circuit Court judge, involving her behavior with jurors, her impartiality and fairness, her compliance with the law and her cooperation with disciplinary authorities, but it did not offer specific details of the purported misconduct.

The justices wrote that a complete opinion would come at a later date.

Ademiluyi has presided over cases in the county’s circuit court since 2020, when she was elected as a judge by Maryland voters after running a grass-roots campaign.

She has alleged in complaints and court documents that her outsider status drew hostility from her judicial colleagues, creating a working environment that prompted her to file what she said was a whistleblower complaint against her supervisors in 2022.

In a statement, she asserted that her removal from the bench is retaliation for that complaint. After reporting her supervisors to the Maryland Commission on Judicial Disabilities, they responded with a complaint of their own, alleging misconduct by Ademiluyi in hundreds of pages of documents that the commission and Maryland Supreme Court deemed valid.

Her fellow judges alleged that she behaved inappropriately at the courthouse, including insubordination, unprofessionalism, tardiness and lack of participation in critical judicial training sessions. 

The high court’s decision to remove Ademiluyi the same day as her hearing before the justices — issuing an immediate ruling without a complete opinion — signals an urgency to put the increasingly public saga to rest, Vinick said.

It also draws attention to the way Ademiluyi made it to the bench — by running as an independent challenger to a slate of judicial candidates.

When there is a judicial vacancy, interested candidates can apply for consideration through the governor’s office. They are scrutinized by various bar associations before coming before county-level nominating commissions, which make recommendations to the governor’s office on potential one-year appointees.

Despite a gubernatorial appointment, all judges must be elected to their jobs by Maryland voters. But candidates such as Ademiluyi can still win despite not going through the official vetting process.

Man, whatever it is, it must be awful for them to respond that strongly