I am a Maryland lawyer and an occasional writer on legal and other issues. This site collects articles and commentary I have published and self-published in my personal capacity over the years. Views expressed in these articles are solely my own and do not constitute legal advice.
Last update: April 21, 2025
Submit comments to connoljohn@gmail.com.
2025-04-21 extorting undocumented aliens(10139460.5).pdfApril 21, 2025 -- Several states have followed Maryland's 2016 law that criminalizes attempting to obtain something of value by threatening to report an undocumented person's status to law enforcement. Are these statutes likely to have any effect?
2025-01-14 Corporate Transparence Act reporting companies(10057764.2).pdfJanuary 14, 2025 -- The Corporate Transparency Act, if it takes effect, will require many companies to furnish certain beneficial ownership information to the Department of Treasury. Many commentators have weighed in on a basic question: which types of entities are required to report. Attached is my attempt to parse through the language of the statute.
2024-08-17 DC flat fees.pdfAugust 17, 2024 -- The District of Columbia Court of Appeals holds that advanced flat fees are client property until the matter concludes and outlines important exceptions through client consent
2024-03-02 FINAL ode to chevron.pdfMarch 2, 2024 -- A reflection on the administrative state during the reign of Chevron.
2024-02-06 Why Maryland did not Ratify the 14th Amendment (Until 1959).pdfFebruary 6, 2024--My Black History Month contribution on Maryland's extremely slow journey to ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment
2023-12-06 did anyone in the 1860s believe the president was not an officer.pdfDecember 6, 2023--A Colorado trial court held that President Trump was not disqualified under section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment because he had not previously taken an oath as "an officer of the United States." That holding is criticized on several grounds, including that even in 1868 everyone believed the president was an officer. Well, maybe not everyone.
2023-09-18 The Conscious Uncoupling of the Maryland and Federal Constitutions.pdfSeptember 18, 2023--Maryland courts have a long history of interpreting state constitutional rights "in pari materia" with comparable rights in the federal constitution. Is that changing?
2023-03-22 Does Certiorari Oust Lower Court of Jurisdiction.pdfMarch 22, 2023--In the Moore v. Harper independent state legislature case, the North Carolina Supreme Court granted rehearing after the U.S. Supreme Court had issue a writ of certiorari and heard argument, but before it ruled. Can the NC Court do that?
2023-03-15 Eleventh Circuit Interprets Bruen.pdfMarch 15, 2023--In a recent decision the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit resolved several methodological questions left open by Bruen. In general the Court endorsed the view that the Reconstruction and post-Reconstruction era were more relevant to the requisite historical analysis than the Founding era. That methodology provides more flexibility for modern legislators, but will it hold up?
2023-02-06 Analogical Reasoning Under Bruen.pdfA recent federal appellate decision takes a narrow view of "relevantly similar" firearms laws. (Note March 15, 2023: the Fifth Circuit issued a revised decision after this piece was posted.)
Abstract per SSRN: Historical state laws regulating firearms have become relevant to modern firearms legislation after the Supreme Court’s decisions in Heller, McDonald, and Bruen. This article tries to catalog and analyze all historical firearms laws in one of the original 13 states, Maryland, and considers how those laws might affect modern legislative efforts to regulate firearms.
2022-12-23 Toy and Ghost Guns.pdfDecember 23, 2022
In the 1880s, injuries from "toy" guns were causing painful deaths to numerous children. The General Assembly quickly banned them. Does that law have any relevance today?
2022-10-13 JJC Rodowsky Memorial.pdfOctober 14, 2022
A remembrance of one of the leading lights of Maryland law for 60 years. First published on October 14, 2022, in the Bar Library Advance Sheet.
2022-02-22 The Baltimore Sun Apologizes.pdfThe Baltimore Sun Apologizes
February 22, 2022
My take on the Baltimore Sun's apology for nearly two centuries of racial news coverage.
2022-02-12 The Public Disciplinary Complaint (blog post).pdfWhat happens when attorney disciplinary complaints are made public before the investigation ends or, in some cases, even begins?
2021-04-07 rip court of appeals of maryland.pdfWherein I rise in support of "Court of Appeals of Maryland" -- the name, not the institution. (To be clear, this piece is classified as humor.)
2021-02-13 REFORMAT Racial Laws in Maryland and What They Mean for Me.pdfFebruary 15, 2021
This article considers legislation a border state enacted during the slavery era for the purpose of subjugating its Black residents, whether free or slave. The article postulates that these anachronistic laws reveal modern truths about racial discrimination; in particular, the ruling class’s capacity for rationalizing the immorality of slavery and racial oppression by promulgating laws and official state practices that were by turns cruel, petty, petulant, patronizing, incoherent, and absurd. The state’s laws at the time reflect the white populace’s broad belief that Great Britain created Maryland’s racial problem by forcibly transporting indigenous Africans to a land where they could not compete with whites, and that the problem would be solved only when the descendants of those slaves returned to Africa. All this is presented from the perspective of a modern white male Maryland lawyer who has never experienced racism. The article closes with a reflection on the author’s family history.
2020-03-06 In Defense of Judicial Elections.pdfIn Defense of Judicial Elections (Mar. 2020)
The bench, the bar, and the academy don't much like judicial elections, while legislators and the public are not so sure. Would the framers of the Maryland constitutions have anything to add to the debate?
2020-01-30 Great Misdemeanors (version 3).pdfThe Maryland Constitution and Federal Impeachment (Feb. 2020)
Does the Maryland Constitution have anything to say about whether the federal Impeachment Clause requires "criminal-like" conduct? Not much, I think, but read the article and let me know.
2020-01-22 Oath of Office Article Take 2 (for jjc website).pdfIs Maryland's Oath of Office Intentionally Subversive of Federal Authority? (published January 21, 2020, in Baltimore Bar Library newsletter).
All Maryland state officials must take an oath that was written in 1867, two years after the Civil War ended. Do officials know what obligations they are undertaking? Do I? Read the article and let me know.
2018-04-02 FINAL Republican Press at a Democratic Convention (publication version 1).pdfMaryland Constitution at 150 (FINAL reduced file).pdfThe Subpoenaed Lawyer (FINAL).pdfOne Satisfaction Rule Version 2.pdfJudicial Disabilities Commission Part II.pdfMothers and Doubt (final with photo reduced).pdfDelay and Secrecy in Judicial Disciplinary Cases (final).pdf2017-02-21 Judicial Disabilities Commission Article Revision.pdfMaryland Voting Law.pdfMy Speech to the Medical School Graduates (local).pdfAGC v Stanalonis (illustrated-corrected).pdfYou Cant Say That in Court (local).pdfMaryland Riot Act.pdfPeaceless Protest and Maryland Law.pdfWith Malice Toward Some.pdfPrayer for Dishonest Lawyers.pdfAnswered Prayer.pdfWelcome to Maryland.pdfClosing Argument.pdfIncompetent Self Representation 3.pdfCert Granted.pdfConsider Your Verdict (reformat).pdfSleeping with the Enemy Executive.pdfRepresent Yourself.pdfReasonable Particularity in Indictments Against Child Abusers.pdfMarylands Right of In Banc Review.pdfGreat Purposes.pdfDelay and Secrecy in Judicial Disciplinary Cases (final).pdfShould Executives Arbitrate? The empiricists weigh in. Suits-by-suits blog March 10, 2015).
The shameful treatment of foreign children in U.S. custody. Baltimore Sun December 2012.
Don't suspend habeas corpus. Baltimore Sun November 2005.