ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland judges would be able to shield their personal information online to prevent hostile people from tracking them down, under a bill the state Senate passed Thursday in response to the fatal shooting of a judge in his driveway.
The Senate voted 43-1 for the Judge Andrew F. Wilkinson Judicial Security Act, named for the Maryland circuit court judge who was shot by a man just hours after Wilkinson ruled against him in a divorce case and awarded custody of his children to his wife in October.
“He was murdered for serving our state, for doing his job and for protecting the children in a domestic case,” said Sen. Paul Corderman, a Washington County Republican who sponsored the bill, adding that “this vicious attack requires immediate action.”
Corderman noted before the vote that his own father was a Maryland judge who survived an explosion from pipe bombs sent to his home in 1989.
The measure now goes to the House, where a similar bill is pending.
State lawmakers across the U.S. have stepped up efforts to shield personal information from being publicly disclosed about judges, police, elected officeholders and various public employees.