Robert M. Bell

Honorable Robert M. Bell
23rd Chief Judge, Maryland Court of Appeals
Incumbent
Assumed office 1996
Nominated by	Governor Parris Glendening
Preceded by	Robert C. Murphy
Judge, Maryland Court of Appeals
Incumbent
Assumed office 1991
Nominated by	Governor William Donald Schaefer
Appointed by	Governor William Donald Schaefer
Maryland Court of Special Appeals
In office 1984–1991
Nominated by	Governor Harry R. Hughes
Appointed by	Governor Harry R. Hughes
Associate Judge, Baltimore City Circuit Court
In office 1980–1984
Nominated by	Governor Harry R. Hughes
Appointed by	Governor Harry R. Hughes
Judge, District Court of Maryland for Baltimore City
In office 1975–1980
Nominated by	Governor Marvin Mandel
Appointed by	Governor Marvin Mandel
Personal details
Born	July 6, 1943 (1943-07-06) (age 68) Rocky Mount, North Carolina
Alma mater	Morgan State University, Harvard Law School
Committees	Chair, Maryland Judicial Conference, Chair, Library Committee, State Law Library, Chair, Hall of Records Commission, Chair, Technology Oversight Board, Chair, Public Trust and Confidence Implementation Committee, Chair, Judicial Cabinet, Chair, Advisory Board, Maryland Mediation and Conflict Resolution Office, Member, State Commission on Public Safety Technology and Critical Infrastructure, 2002–05; Task Force on Child Welfare System Accountability, 2003–04; Task Force to Study Criminal Offender Monitoring by Global Positioning Systems, 2004–05.

Robert Mack Bell (born July 6, 1943) is an American lawyer and jurist from Baltimore, Maryland. Since 1991 he has been a judge of the Maryland Court of Appeals, the highest court in Maryland, and its Chief Judge since 1996 and has been a judge at every level in the Maryland Courts system. He is also the State's first African American to serve as the Maryland Court of Appeals' Chief Judge.

Background

Born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, his parents soon moved to Baltimore, Maryland where he attended Dunbar High School. On June 17, 1960 Bell had his first experiences with the judicial system. While still in high school, he and a group of students participated in a sit-in protest at a segregated restaurant. The group entered Hooper's Restaurant, located at Charles and Fayette Streets, in downtown Baltimore and waited to be served. They were asked to leave, but twelve of the students, including the sixteen-year-old Bell, refused. He and the other students were arrested, convicted in the Circuit Court of Baltimore City of criminal trespassing, and fined $10. The case was appealed to the Maryland Court of Appeals, where the students' representation included Juanita Jackson Mitchell and Thurgood Marshall. The appellants argued that the use of the state's trespassing laws to support segregation of public accommodations violated the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. In 1962, the Court of Appeals upheld the decision of the circuit court.

The case was then appealed to the U.S Supreme Court, where Bell was represented by Constance Baker Motley and Jack Greenberg. In the 1964 case of Bell v. Maryland, the U.S. Supreme Court, noting that in the period since the conviction the Maryland General Assembly had passed a public accommodations law, refused to rule whether the state's trespassing laws could be used to exclude blacks from public accommodations, but vacated the decision and remanded the case to allow the state court to rule whether the conviction should be reversed due to the change in state law. On April 9, 1965, Bell's conviction was reversed by the state Court of Appeals and all of the students were cleared of all charges.^[1] Ironically, after the Supreme Court's decision, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned racial discrimination in public accommodations such as those provided in Hooper's Baltimore restaurant. It has been suggested that the Supreme Court refrained from reaching the merits in the case in consideration of this civil rights legislation, which was then pending in Congress, as had it done so it would have eliminated the basis for passing the Act.^[2]

Bell later attended and graduated with a B.A. in history from Morgan State University in Baltimore in 1966 and while there became a brother in Alpha Phi Omega. He then was admitted to Harvard Law School where he earned his J.D. in 1969. That same year he was admitted to the bar and began his legal practice in Baltimore.

Judicial career

In 1975 Bell was appointed to the District Court of Maryland, District 1, in Baltimore City and served there until 1980. He was an Associate Judge, Baltimore City Circuit Court, 8th Judicial Circuit, from 1980 to 1984 when he was appointed to the Maryland Court of Special Appeals. Seven years later he was appointed to the state's highest court and became the chief justice in 1996. He was a member, Court of Appeals Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure from 1977 to 1982; Commission to Revise the Annotated Code of Maryland, 1980–82; and the Board of Directors, Judicial Institute of Maryland, 1982–84. In August, 2006, Bell was named Chair of the National Center for State Courts’ Board of Directors. At the same time, Judge Bell also was named president of the Conference of Chief Justices.^[3]

Awards

Bell has also been the recipient of several awards:

• American Bar Association D'Alemberte-Raven Award for Outstanding Leadership in Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Legal Excellence Award for Advancement of Public Service Responsibility from the Maryland Bar Foundation
• Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence Special Recognition Award
• Maryland Leadership in Law Award
• Maryland Legal Services Corporation Medal for Access to Justice.

Notes

External links

• Bell's profile at Maryland's state archives

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