Mar 10, 2006  |  By: ELIZABETH WEILL-GREENBERG  | COMMENTS     

Maryland Del. Don Dwyer made good on his threat this week to seek the impeachment of a state judge who ruled in favor of gay marriage.

The Republican delegate from Anne Arundel County introduced a resolution March 7 in the state House to remove Baltimore Circuit Judge M. Brooke Murdock from the bench after she ruled earlier this year that a law banning same-sex marriage in the state is unconstitutional. She stayed the decision while an appeals court considers the case.

"He claims that the judge must be removed from office for ‘misbehavior in office, willful neglect of duty, and incompetency,’" said gay Del. Richard S. Madaleno Jr. (D-Montgomery County) in a statement. "It is a clear attempt to intimidate judges and to make the judiciary subservient to the legislature."

According to Dwyer’s office, the resolution has been referred to the Judiciary Committee and has not been scheduled for a hearing. Maryland State Bar Association President Michael Conroy criticized calls for impeaching the judge.

"No basis in fact or law exists to support any suggestion to impeach Judge Murdock for her recent decision on same-sex marriage," said Conroy. Only one Maryland judge has been removed in the state’s history, according to a report in the Baltimore Sun.

It happened 150 years ago to a judge who got drunk and fell asleep in court.